Oncoming Storm
by star.everlasting
Summary: [Part 1 of Into Chaos] - All of their hopes have been pinned on finding Lightning to bring back Serah and to bring Vanille and Fang out of crystal stasis. But with Lightning a crystal herself, Hope, Snow, and Noel must find a way to bring their family back again after the Chaos tears through Gran Pulse.
1. Out of the Frying Pan

I know that _Tracer of Memories_ has the "canon" story to what happened during the 500 year gap between _XIII-2_ and _Lightning Returns_ , but with so much canon and so much headcanon to work with over this long span of time, I couldn't resist. This is the fleshed-out version of what could have happened during that time when our boys are trying to rebuild the world. I will say, though, that the picture in the datalog of _Lightning Returns_ of Noel, Hope, and Snow working together gave me a lot of feels and ultimately pushed me to start this project. So far, the plan is to break this up into THREE separate parts, with a varying number of chapters each. Hopefully, that will be able to deal with the time jumps more effectively, and to be able to give insight into what happened in those 500 years. Here's to a different take than _Tracer of Memories_ , which is what I based most of my information and research off of. It won't be entirely canon-divergent; in fact, this is to fill in gaps that were left in the novel. Happy reading!

 **Summary** : The world was saved, the paradoxes were resolved, and the time gates were closed. Everything should have been fine- until Serah Farron died in the arms of her companion.

Disclaimer: I don't own the _Final Fantasy XIII_ series.

* * *

 **Academia – 500AF**

"It's the end of our journey."

The time gate, a purple and white vortex that swirled right beneath the newly-launched Cocoon, christened "Bhunivelze", slowly faded to nothing. The wisps disappeared against the evening sky; Valhalla was sealed away now, and Caius and his paradoxes with it. Noel took a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth. It was over. He and Serah had accomplished their mission- they saved the world. Now, now they would be able to rest, to stay in this time for good with Hope and Sazh to help search for the others.

"Hey. Noel," Serah said next to him.

"Hm?"

The young hunter turned to her, who looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up at him, smiling.

"Thank you."

He was about to reply when suddenly, her eyes weren't focused on him anymore. Panic coursed through him as déjà vu hit him with the force of an airship at full speed, Serah flashing to Yeul and then back again. Her breath began to hitch, as if she was in pain.

"Serah…" Noel started, his panic slipping into his voice. "No, not now, please!" His heart stopped when Etro's crest appeared in her blue eyes, unable to contain himself as he put his hands on her shoulders, shaking her. "Serah, snap out of it! _No!_ "

The crest faded as quickly as it appeared, and then all of a sudden, she was falling, her hand outstretched. Noel grabbed it, pulling Serah to him. He held her against him as her breathing shallowed, as her strength wavered.

"Serah…" He breathed her name like a prayer, a plea. Her knees buckled, legs giving way and pulled Noel down to the surface of the airship with the sudden weight. Pain exploded in his kneecaps, but the brunet couldn't think of anything other than _Serah_ , and _oh goddess_ , no, not now, not at the end of all this. And just as he felt Yeul's breath leave her body when he held her two hundred years in the future, he felt the exact moment Serah was gone.

" _SERAH!_ "

Tears fell from his bright blue eyes as he held his best friend, rocking her gently back and forth. They saved the future. They saved the world. They had been through so much; they were supposed to stay in this time and help Hope rebuild the world, to reunite with Lightning. Noel was supposed to watch Serah and that blockhead Snow get married- she had even asked him to be one of her bridesmaids during one of their stops in Serendipity- and teach her kids as Meanie Miss Farron. He was supposed to take their kids out and spoil them rotten as their Uncle Noel; he was supposed to find a way to save Yeul with Serah…and now, the time gates were closed. He couldn't bring them back, either of them, no matter how much he wanted to. He had promised Snow _and_ Lightning to watch over Serah, to protect her, and _goddess_ how was he supposed to tell either of them that she was dead?

Running footsteps interrupted his moment of mourning, and hearing his name spoken causing his tears to still, his throat clamp up.

"Noel?"

The hunter couldn't bring himself to look back at his friend, only able to shake his head, but Hope's voice broke when he caught sight of Serah's body.

"But why? You were safe…everything was fine!"

Noel took a second to compose himself, to gather his words.

"The future changed. It changed." He could almost laugh at the irony of the situation, laugh through his pain. Hope squeezed his eyes shut, looking away from the heartbreaking scene. Ever since he and Snow came to the conclusion Lightning had disappeared, Hope had wanted to take up his mantle to defend for their family in any way he could, the former l'Cie and those who have joined their ranks since then, like Noel and Mog. Now, one of them was dead.

" _Tell me, Hope. Why did you join the Academy?"_ Serah had asked him, all those centuries ago when they had reunited in the Yaschas Massif nearly ten years after everyone had disappeared. Those ten years, all that studying and research, all the late nights and hard work for him to become Director of the Academy, he had done it with them in mind, hoping to be able to give everyone a home when they returned.

" _A sense of duty,"_ he told her.

 _I'm sorry, Serah. I'm sorry, Light. I'm sorry, Snow._

"If you change the future, you change the past," Noel continued speaking. "The effects ripple outwards, up and down the timeline. The seeress is forced to see it all."

"You mean Serah…she saw this vision?" Hope asked, his stomach dropping with the implication of his words.

"Yes." The hunter's voice broke with that single word. "And it killed her. Serah…" he looked down at the girl in his arms, gently putting a hand on her cheek. "She knew the risk. If we altered the future, she knew what would happen. That her life could be in danger." He brushed her pink bangs back from her face. "But she still chose to save it. I wanted to protect her."

Noel looked at her then, understanding fully now that Serah must have seen this moment, must have known she was going to die. And just like Yeul, unable…in Serah's case, would not prevent it from happening. Not if it meant saving the world. Her bravery and sacrifice buried themselves somewhere inside Noel's ribcage, burrowing deep into his chest, stabbing at him as he held her close. "I thought I had," he whispered. "I thought she was safe."

A change in the wind caused his blue eyes to snap open, looking at the dark clouds that were all at once covering the clear evening sky.

"Kupo…?" Mog whispered, fear laced in his voice. Noel carefully put Serah down on the deck as he and Hope swiveled to see the lights on the new Bhunivelze, the darkness unsettling both of them. All of a sudden, the moogle fell, bouncing on the deck once before Hope crashed to one knee and caught the furry creature.

"The goddess…" he started, shivering in the scientist's arms. "She is gone, kupo," Mog managed to say before he became limp, the light leaving the jewel on top of his head. Hope and Noel looked at each other, the weight of the situation setting in when Noel suddenly remembered Caius' words to him so, so long ago.

" _The Heart of Chaos beats in my chest, a manifestation of Etro. Should this heart stop beating, the goddess will die once again."_

"I…killed the goddess?" he asked himself, looking down at his hands in horror. His breath quickened, and _he couldn't breathe_ as a loud bell tolled, the black winds whipping against him and rocking the ship unsteadily. Hope cradled Mog against his chest, bracing himself. Sazh, with all of his years of experience, did his best in keeping the ship in the air when he saw the winds cover the new planet. When all three men looked up, Etro's crest loomed in the sky, blackness spilling forth- Etro's Gate.

 _When the goddess dies, the Chaos of Valhalla is unleashed. The Chaos has the power to warp the timeline and destroy the past._

Bright lights shot from the gate, rushing all over the surface of Gran Pulse and Bhunivelze, the winds and black mist rising from everything it touched. The winds continued to knock against the ship, and both Hope and Noel fell onto the deck. It seemed that it would never end, the blackness all around them, when all of a sudden, it was quiet.

Hope opened one eye carefully before opening the other, lifting his body to look around.

The brunet had thrown himself over Serah when the winds started, and was standing up on shaky legs to look in the opposite direction as him. Sazh's voice came over the speakers, his words knocking a wrecking ball into Hope's gut.

"Fellas…you're gonna want to take a look at this."

Gone was the busy, bustling city of Academia. Instead, they were flying above an enormous field with mountains flanking all around where the trees and green grass grew abundantly, contradictory to the darkness that had given birth to them. There were ruins of what looked like the Academy headquarters strewn about, piles of rubble laying in rest amidst the darkened grass in the evening. As Hope looked to the distance, he noticed a strange ruin in the north, an old stone temple with curved spires that reached toward the sky.

"That's…that's Etro's temple," Noel said, walking up next to him. The silveret gently put the weakened moogle next to Serah's body before joining his friend at the side of the airship.

"How did all of this happen?" he asked himself, wracking his brain for answers. The scientist and leader in him needed answers; the people who were on Bhunivelze were depending on him.

"You saw Etro's Gate open," The hunter started slowly. "And the Chaos flooded out. The goddess- she was using her powers to keep the Chaos contained in Valhalla."

"The Chaos?" Hope tore his eyes away from the temple to look at his companion. "That's what that black stuff was?"

Noel nodded. "Caius, he told me. The Chaos could warp the timelines and destroy the past. But I don't…I don't think the past changed."

"It just completely terraformed the earth," Hope finished his train of thought dryly. "So when the Chaos came, that must mean that it brought Valhalla with it, and it merged with Gran Pulse."

The brunet frowned. "We're not going to get answers this way," he said, thinking quickly. "I think that if we go to the temple, we may be able to see if Valhalla had anything that made the cross here that can give us the answers we need."

"I'll need to go to the Academy headquarters on Bhunivelze," Hope replied. "I need to make sure everything and everyone is okay before we head out."

A moment passed as Noel looked back at the deck of the airship where Serah lay, lifeless and still. Fresh tears pricked at his eyes, another burst of pain exploding in his chest.

"Yes," he finally said. "Let's get you back to the Academy. We should wait- for Snow. Before we do anything, he needs to know what happened to Serah."

The silveret nodded. "I can track Snow down and send him a message from there." He then turned toward the interior of the ship.

"Sazh? Shall we?"


	2. Into the Freezer

Whew...writing angst is really draining, but I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. Also, this is the last preliminary chapter before our heroes set out to really explore Nova Chrysalis for the first time ever! The next chapter is already under way, and it'll be an exciting one :) Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

 **Summary** : Serah's passing broke the hearts of those who loved her, but at the same time, strengthened their resolve to keep fighting. As Noel, Snow, Hope, Sazh, and Mog mourn her death, they devise a plan to find Lightning, who may be waiting for them in the newly-terraformed world.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

* * *

 **Bhunivelze – 500AF (One Day after the Chaos)**

The sound of the Shiva sisters' motorbike had been a source of comfort for Hope in the past, but this time, all he felt were heartbreak and dread. When he heard the engine cut off, signaling the moment Snow dismissed Nix and Shiva, the rock in his stomach only grew heavier. Next to him, Noel took a deep breath. The two of them braced themselves as Snow walked through the door of the lab, blond mane flying behind him. He sported his traditional cocky grin when he greeted them, but Hope noticed a missing spark in his eyes, and that was when the young man felt the floor drop from beneath his feet- _Snow knew._

"Hero's here," the man in question said, punching his fists together. "What's going on?"

"Snow…" Noel stepped forward, unsure of what to say. The look on his face only confirmed the blonde's thoughts, and Hope could do nothing but watch the two men's hearts break in front of him.

"It's Serah, isn't it."

It wasn't a question; Snow's tone left no room for doubt. The young hunter looked down at his feet as tears built in his blue eyes; he couldn't face Snow, not after promising that he would protect Serah. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable breakdown, the angry outburst, the fist to his jaw that he very much deserved (and more). Much to his surprise, the bigger man only put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Noel. I know it wasn't your fault. I know you did your best to protect her."

Noel's head snapped up at his words, his tears spilling over despite his best efforts to hold them in. Snow's eyes were also misted over, but even now, there was a small smile on his face. The two of them shared a moment, both mourning the girl who had touched their hearts, who they loved in very different ways. After a couple of minutes, Hope wiped away the tears on his cheeks as he cleared his throat, wordlessly gesturing with one hand to another door in the lab and beckoning them to follow. The hardest part was still to come. With a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, Snow forced himself after Hope, who led them to another room- this one wasn't nearly as big as the main lab; it was a small living space with a small bed pushed against the wall and a desk against the opposite wall. The lights were dimmed, but the window blinds were open, allowing the natural light to filter in, illuminating the too-still figure on the bed.

Serah Farron looked like she was just sleeping, about to wake up at any moment. Snow swallowed hard, forcing himself to steady his breaths. She should not look like this- Serah always had a warm smile on her face; she wasn't as energetic as Vanille, but her spark was unmistakable. Her blue eyes should be open, should be running up to hug him…Sazh, who was sitting in the chair next to the bed, gently put her hand down onto her stomach before standing up, wiping his tears away. The chocobo chick still living in his afro flew out to land on Snow's shoulder, rubbing its tiny yellow head against his stubble cheek. The blond gently patted the small bird as the older man approached him and put a hand on his arm, sniffling with Snow returning the gesture. He ambled slowly out of the room, leaving Snow to see his fiancé for the first time in, according to their timeline, two hundred years.

Numbly, he walked over to the chair Sazh had occupied earlier and slowly lowered himself into it. He reached for her hand, doing his best not to flinch when he felt how cold she was through both of their gloves.

"Hey, Serah," he said in a broken whisper. "Sorry I'm late." Snow squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to think of the words to say. Serah would not want to hear an apology.

"I know…I couldn't have prevented this. And I know I'll be kicking myself for it each moment onward. But I promise," he whispered, putting her gloved hand to his lips. "I promise I'll keep going. I'll keep fighting. I'll find Sis. Then we'll all find a way to save you." He wrapped her hand in both of his, resting his forehead against them.

"Snow, we were thinking," Hope spoke up from the side of the room. He was the only person there aside from Snow himself; it was too much for Sazh and Noel, and they had to grieve outside. "It may take us a long time to figure out how to bring Serah back. I suggested putting her-" he had trouble saying this word, tripping over it. Hope covered it up so well that if Snow hadn't known him since he was a kid, he would have missed it. "-Body in an AMP field so she'll stay in pristine shape while she waits. I didn't want to do anything until you gave the okay."

The blond took one last look at Serah before looking to the silver-haired man, nodding in affirmation. Hope approached the bed then, pulling out a small controller and putting it on the younger Farron's stomach. Snow kissed her hand one more time, placing it gently by her side. A few beeps were heard as the scientist programmed the machine, and then a blue force field appeared around Serah. With that finished, Hope put a comforting hand on Snow's shoulder, showing his silent support as they mourned.

* * *

 _Where am I? I don't really know. I can't hear anything. I can't feel anything. It's cold. It's dark. And I'm alone. This place seems completely empty. But I have no regrets. I fought right until the end. I fought, and I didn't run. I know that someone somewhere will carry on what we've started…they have to._

 _Hey there, Noel. This might be hard to believe- but this is you from the future. I'm just a little bit further along the timeline. This is a warning to my past self. There's a serious trial ahead of you. I know we're pretty tough, but this almost broke me. Just don't give up, and don't give in. I know it's weird coming from yourself, but trust me. I know you can do it._

Those words played over and over in Noel's mind, tears still coming as he watched Sazh talk to Dajh about why his auntie Serah wasn't around anymore. Finally, he understood the messages in those fragments that they found in New Bodhum, seven hundred years into the future. This moment, Serah's death, is what they were referring to. The messages replayed one more time, and he almost scoffed. Yeul was dead. Caius was dead. Serah was-

Sniffling, the hunter wiped away the rivers on his cheeks, forcing himself instead to look forward. They needed to find out exactly what the Chaos did to Pluse, and they still had to find Lightning.

Lightning. His blue eyes snapped wide open, momentarily forgetting to breathe. He had met Lightning in Valhalla, on top of Etro's Temple where she caught him freefalling from the Gate. If the Chaos had indeed merged the two worlds when Etro's Gate was flung open, then maybe she was still there. Maybe she was lost and confused, in a world she no longer recognized.

Noel thanked the goddess for Hope's impeccable timing, which he had shown both him and Serah time and time again throughout their journey, as he and Snow walked back into the main lab.

"Snow, Hope, I had a thought," he said, practically ambushing the two men. He didn't miss the redness in either of their eyes, but he pressed on. "When I first met Lightning in Valhalla, it was at Etro's Temple. If Valhalla and Pulse had really come together-"

"Maybe we'll find Sis there," Snow finished, bringing his fists together. A watery smile appeared on his face. "Now that's what I call a plan-"

 _CRASH!_ The noise coming from Serah's room cut his sentence short, causing everyone's heart rate to spike and rush back into the small room, where upon wrenching open the door, Snow, Hope, and Noel found an overturned lamp that fell from the desk and a weak Mog hovering next to it.

"I'm sorry, kupo!" the moogle said quickly. The three men took a moment for the adrenaline to leave their system; Serah was safe.

"When did you wake up, Mog?" Hope asked gently. "I'm impressed you found your way here from my room. You were supposed to be resting."

The fluffy creature hovered over toward them, eventually bobbing up and down in front of Noel and then plopping into his arms. Thanks to his quick reflexes, he didn't drop the moogle.

"Mog stays with Serah, kupo," he then replied, nestling a little bit more comfortably. "I heard what you said about finding Lightning, kupo. Lightning told me to stay with Serah, and I have to do what Lightning says, kupo. Besides, Serah and Mog have been through so much together, kupo. She will be lonely, kupo. I don't want Serah to be lonely, kupo."

Warm smiles appeared on their faces then, and Noel gave the moogle a squeeze, holding him there for a moment before letting go.

"All right, Mog. You stay with Serah and keep her company, you hear?" the brunet said, glad to be given a reminder of comradery through their journey together. The moogle nodded, and the door was pulled to the frame, but not shut all the way.

"Ready?" Noel asked back in the main lab. Hope chuckled, looking over to Sazh, who was holding onto Dajh's hand. They had both missed the talk with Mog, but he could see that it was for a good reason. As the older man nodded in response to the question, he was stopped in his tracks by Snow, who had noticed that the boy was crying when he knelt in front of his son.

"Hey Dajh, you okay?" The blond asked gently.

Dajh tried to wipe his tears away, but sniffled as he said in a small voice, "I miss auntie Serah."

The three men standing couldn't help but smile; Snow put a hand on his afro affectionately. "I miss her too, buddy, and I'm sure she misses us. But we're going to find a way to bring her back, right after we find auntie Lightning, okay?"

Another sniffle. "Uh-huh."

At Dajh's nod, Snow stood up, clearing his throat. "Ready to go, old man?" He teased, looking at Sazh. Sazh, Noel, and Hope chuckled as they made their way to the hangar. Silently, Hope prayed to whatever god was listening that they _would_ find Lightning and bring her back. They needed a bit of good news right now, and with the world turning upside down, quite literally, they needed her more than ever. Hope knew that no matter how tough his mentor was, when dealing with Serah's death, she would need them too.


	3. Crystal Hopes

I really, really, really love this chapter and the way that it turned out. There were some details that I had to tweak to fit it in with canon, but overall, it was a really fun and painless process. If anyone was lost, I want to clarify that Nue was the name of Hope's ultimate weapon in XIII, and I hope you guys caught the lightning bolt pun when the **[SPOILERS FOR LIGHTNING RETURNS]** Angel of Valhalla (Odin) showed up! **[END SPOILERS]** There was also a FFX reference in there, if anyone caught it. Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did.

 **Summary** : Etro's Temple- their one hope at finding Lightning, one more piece of the puzzle that needed to fall into place to bring their family back together again.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

* * *

 **The New World - 500 AF (Two Days after the Chaos)**

"This place just looks like the Archylte Steppe, except with all the rubble and ruins," Snow commented as he looked over the side of the airship to the ground below.

"And all the wildlife that weren't ever on the Steppe," Hope added. He turned to Noel. "What did the world where you come from look like, Noel?"

The hunter frowned, trying to pull up specific memories. "Well, I came from seven hundred years after the fall of Cocoon," he said slowly. "And the pillar came down quite some time before that. It was after the war that decimated Pulse and mankind. Everything was covered in Ashensand. Everything was dead, all the trees and plants, and the sky was always red. We didn't really have a name for anything; we just called the area the Wildlands."

Snow and Hope looked at each other and grinned, as if sharing an inside joke. "Why don't we just call this area the Wildlands, then?" The Academy Director suggested. "Chaos terraformed Pulse anyway. We'll have to relabel a lot of places, if not all of them."

Hearing his words, Noel nodded and smiled. _See, Serah? We can do this. We can keep fighting and rebuild the world you gave your life for. We will. We'll continue the fight._

Sazh set the airship down on some rocky crags near the Temple with astounding skill; he didn't scrape or hit anything despite the narrow space.

"Hey, old man," Snow called into the intercom.

"What, you big buffoon?" A smile twitched on Noel's lips.

"I was thinking-"

"Always a dangerous thing," Hope jibed, cutting him off. That drew a laugh out of the brunet; Snow pointedly ignored them both.

"I was thinking, maybe Hope, Noel, and I should go in there ourselves. We don't know what's inside, you should stay here and watch Dajh and the ship."

A sigh. "All right, kids. Bring soldier girl back." Sazh's words left no room for doubt. He just had to believe Lightning was in there. The three jumped straight from the side of the ship down to the rocky surface below. There in front of them was a bridge, swinging over a chasm that led to the interior of the Temple. Etro's Temple, even in ruins, loomed above them, its spires casting long shadows whose fingers clawed at the ground. Snow punched his fists together, Noel took his swords off his back, and Hope drew his Nue as the three of them cautiously made their way across the bridge, suspended over a canyon so deep there was only darkness below. The brunet silently breathed a sigh of relief when they had their feet on solid ground again at the Temple entrance.

With only one look at each other, Snow set one foot on the stairs that led up to the inside of the Temple when a loud squawk caused them all to jump, weapons at the ready. Hope's left hand was held in front of him, a massive ball of thunder ready to be unleashed, until the source of the sound revealed itself.

A white blur appeared on the Temple spires, jumping and making its way down to the entrance toward them. When it finally stopped a few feet away, Snow let out the breath he had been holding as Hope dismissed the thundaga spell he had ready- it was a white chocobo that had startled them. All three men lowered their weapons, their tense muscles relaxing. However, the hero's eyes narrowed.

"Guys, is it just me, or is this chocobo a little off?" he asked his companions.

The chocobo's body was white in color, and its plumes were much shorter than those of a regular chocobo. Even stranger was the fact that the tips of the feathers of the crown and those at the base of the plumes were a light green color. And above its left eye…

Noel had noticed it too. He held out his hand, gesturing to the creature that he was harmless. Evidently, after a look-over, the chocobo trusted him and moved closer until the hunter put a comforting hand on its long neck. Hope peered at the strange gray insignia Snow had pointed at, something tugging at his memory.

"Noel, does that symbol look familiar to you?" The young Director asked softly, careful not to startle the creature. "Snow?"

The brunet shook his head. "Nothing like I've seen."

"I definitely know this from somewhere," the bigger man answered.

It hit Hope like a lightning bolt, and he smacked himself for not noticing sooner. "Snow, that's Odin's Zantetsuken!"

Snow looked closer before his face split into a huge grin. "So then if this bird has a Zantetsuken tat, it must be connected to Odin somehow, right? I mean, chocobos don't just show up with tattoos. That must mean Odin is close. And we know that he wouldn't be far from Sis, which means she's close by too!"

It may have been Noel's imagination, but he could swear up and down that the chocobo rolled its eyes. The big bird shook its head, kwehing softly and pointing its beak to the stairs.

"If your theory is true, then maybe Lightning is inside after all," the brunet said, petting the bird's neck. The chocobo then walked back to the side of the Temple, jumping back up the spires. "Looks like Odin-bird wants us to go find her."

Hope chuckled, gripping his boomerang tighter as the three men made their way into the Temple proper. He had no idea what they might find inside, but gently tugged at the flow of magic he felt inside him all the same. Looking up, he saw a thin black mist spilling slowly down the stairs- the Chaos. "Ready?"

Squaring his shoulders, Snow took the first step, the other two following close behind. "This is a lot of stairs," he huffed after a minute. Noel almost laughed.

"What, don't tell me you're getting tubby already!"

Their bantering came to a stop when they reached the top of the stairs to see the interior of the antechamber. The inside of the Temple was in complete ruins; there were piles of rubble and debris everywhere. Fallen rock coated the checkered floors, all stacked on top of each other. Although there were no torches or lights, a strange, almost eerie, green glow lit the place. Even then, Hope summoned a small fire in the palm of his hand as both a source of light and comfort. The only way to proceed was to climb the stacked boulders on the side of the room, and that was exactly what they did, walking through the labyrinth of ruins.

"Something about this place doesn't sit well with me," Noel murmured.

"No kidding, gives me the creeps," the bigger man replied before turning to Hope. "So, I never got around to asking, but what's with the magic?"

The implication of his question was so obvious the Academy Director almost sighed. Snow would never change, something he was both grateful for and exasperated with.

"No, I'm not a l'Cie again like you; don't think I didn't notice your brand, Snow," Hope stated, shooting his friend a glance. As if still being able to summon his Eidolon wasn't clue enough for him back on Bhunivelze. The blonde's longer, undoubtedly more interesting backstory would have to wait. "I'm the same as Serah. It's what everyone called 'crystal powers' back when some people would randomly be able to use magic. As if coming to Pulse amplified our abilities or something without having a fal'Cie channel their power through us."

"You know, that would make a lot of sense," Noel spoke up. "When Lindzei made Cocoon, land was taken out of Pulse. Pulse was created first, more in touch with the original magic of the gods. At least, that's what the stories all say when they were passed down to us. I can use magic just because I follow the line of the Guardians, so I never really gave it much thought."

Both Hope and Snow raised their eyebrows, mulling over his theory as they continued walking. The farther in they got, the stranger things were- some of the rubble floated in the air, and it felt as if the Chaos itself was closing in around them tighter like a vacuum. Room after room it was the same, debris everywhere that the trio would have to climb over, sometimes some stairs, a long hallway, and then another rubble-filled room.

Hope growled in frustration, making the other two stop.

"Hope, what are you-"

"Hang on," the silverette said through gritted teeth. He raised a gloved hand and a burst of wind came out, surrounding them and lifting them off their feet.

" _Hope, what the hell in holy Etro's name are you doing?!_ " Noel shrieked as the wind carried them from the bottommost floor of the room they were in to the top of the rubble where another hallway waited. As soon as his feet touched solid rock, he fell to his knees, gasping. Snow laughed.

"Out of anyone, I'd trust Hope most with magic with whatever the hell he was doing. The kid was the best ravager of all of us by a landslide," he chuckled.

"I got tired of climbing," Hope said sheepishly, waiting for Noel to stand up. The three men continued to the end of the hallway where an enormous set of stairs waited in front of them.

"Wait," the brunet murmured. His hunter senses were in overdrive. "Do you feel that? The air," he said, pointing to the top of the stairs. "The air feels different here." And he took off running.

When Snow and Hope reached the top, the first thing they saw was Noel's posture. Shoulders stiffened, an arm held out defensively in front of his body, and his feet apart, as if he just skidded to a stop. Then they noticed the room itself- it opened to the outside, letting in a dark, dismal sky which Snow was _sure_ was clear and sunny when they left Sazh and Dajh with the airship. Finally, they saw the tall structure in front of them, a marble white throne on top of an enormous blue crystal. But it was the thing resting on the throne that made all three of them stop breathing, their hearts hammering.

There on the marble sat the too-still, too-familiar figure of Lightning Farron with her legs crossed and gunblade in hand...frozen in crystal stasis. Hope forced his body to move, only able to utter a half-hearted "wha…" at the sight of his mentor. His voice brought Snow back to his senses, causing him to run toward the throne, intent on reaching Lightning before a powerful blast of magic sent him flying backwards. Instantly, Noel's swords and Hope's boomerang were raised, a ball of raging fire in the latter's hand, ready to be thrown at any second.

A figure stepped in front of the trio from the shadow of the throne, causing Noel's heart to leap to his throat. His mouth dried and his head spun; this couldn't be real. Snow's voice, however, anchored it to reality.

"Caius Ballad."

Caius' face bore no grating, satisfied smirk, nothing as he said in his deep, booming voice- "You can't have her."

That did it. That cracked through the shock that bound Noel, his former mentor's voice causing the hunter to see red. With a loud yell, he charged at the purple-haired man, slashing at him wildly with his two swords. Caius, able to see that his opponent was fighting in a blind rage, only blocked his strikes with his enormous sword.

" _YOU_!" Noel bellowed, attacking again and again. "How the hell are you here?! You killed yourself with my sword!" None of his attacks made a difference; Caius simply parried. "You fix this Chaos mess! You can't be alive!" He continued screaming, lunging at him. "We defeated you! We saved the timeline and fixed the damn paradoxes like we were supposed to!" Another angry, frenzied slash. "Serah _died_ to save the timeline!" he roared.

The last statement shattered both Snow and Hope's hearts as they stood on the sidelines. At that, Caius raised his hand and blasted Noel back, causing him to land on his side in front of the other two. Snow instantly lifted him up as Hope cast a quick cure spell on the brunet. His chest was heaving, both from anger and from the tears streaming down his face. Surprising them all, Caius returned his sword to his back, speaking in the calmest voice they had ever heard from him.

"The Chaos. It won't let me die."

Shocked, the three others only stared at him. Caius put a hand on the crystal base of the throne. "The Chaos that was released from the Unseen Realm was the splintered, broken soul of all the Yeuls. They did not wish me to leave; they brought me back. Time and time again," he continued his explanation without looking at them. "One Yeul wants me to live forever with her. Another wants me to die, to gain salvation." A dry chuckle left his lips. "I am bound to this place, as is the warrior goddess. She has been defeated by me, by the death of her sister. Now she sleeps, never to wake."

"We're not leaving here without Lightning," Snow grunted, readying himself for a fight. "Even if we have to kill you over and over-" he was cut off as the Chaos swirled in front of him, a black mist that then became someone else the party didn't expect to see, and Noel found himself unable to breathe for the third time in five minutes.

"Yeul?"

The blue-haired girl turned toward him, noting the crazed distress in his eyes. "I am not the Yeul you knew," she said gently, turning back to where Caius and Lightning were. "Caius is correct. You cannot bring her with you when you leave. She will wait here until her time comes. The Savior, she has a part to play in destiny. As do all of you," Yeul looked at each of them in turn. "Noel Kreiss. Snow Villiers. Hope Estheim. All of you must play the roles that fate has handed to you. I am so sorry," she finally said, sadness and regret evident in her tone. "I am so sorry."

They didn't have the chance to ask her what she meant before Caius raised his hand and Chaos came rushing at them, completely enveloping them. For a terrifying second, Hope couldn't breathe, couldn't get his lungs to work, until the three of them found themselves not in the Temple, but right outside where Sazh and Dajh were waiting. The pilot himself was leaning against his ship when they appeared, his two pistols in his hands.

"What happened?" he demanded as soon as the three of them got their wind back. "Where's Lightning?"

Quickly, Snow gave him an extremely condensed version of the story. Sazh's face looked grim at the end of it.

"So, Lightning is now full-time MIA, and the big bad is back. There's another problem to add onto the list."

Alarmed, Hope looked at him. "We have another problem?"

Sazh's afro bounced as he nodded. "My scanners picked up something a little ways from here. It shouldn't be there, but it is."

Noel raised his eyebrows. "A monster?" he asked.

The pilot shook his head, taking a deep breath. "No," he replied. "A fal'Cie."


	4. Pandaemonium

And Pandaemonium is introduced! This chapter is so much shorter because I took a long time to try to imagine what Pandaemonium would have looked like before eventually deciding that I wanted it to be the opposite of Titan. I figured that with the new world, this thing is essentially a biogenerator like Titan was for Gran Pulse, only Pandaemonium grows food. It made sense for them to be polar opposites. This chapter had a lot more to do with exposition and setting up for parts of Lightning Returns, so I'm sorry it was kind of short. Working on the next chapter, and I'm actually really excited for it :) thanks for reading! I hope y'all had a happy Thanksgiving holiday!

 **Summary:** Sazh's discovery of the fal'Cie leads the heroes to come face-to-face with the doubts of their past.

Disclaimer: I don't own the _Final Fantasy XIII_ series

* * *

 **The New World – 500 AF (Two Days after the Chaos)**

"A fal'Cie?" Hope asked, stunned. Did he hear that right? "Sazh, I did a full scan of both Cocoon and Pulse in 10 AF, 400AF, and as soon as I got here in 500AF. The fal'Cie have all died out."

"There were a few who were sucked into the Historia Crux and the Void when the Chaos took Lightning though," Snow pointed out, raising the arm that contained his l'Cie brand. Sazh opened his mouth, presumably to ask how he even got branded, but the blond just held up his hand. "Story for another time."

"So one of them could have just been thrown out of the Historia Crux simply by chance here?" Noel asked, trying to clarify the situation.

"Possibly."

The four men started to make their way inside the airship when the hunter suddenly remembered something crucial. He sprinted back across the bridge and up the stairs into the Temple proper without an explanation, ignoring the concerned shouts from Hope, Snow, and Sazh. He had to complete the circular paradox; this was one thing he couldn't afford to forget. As the Chaos of the Temple enveloped his body, he reached out with his mind, praying that she could hear him.

 _Yeul? Yeul, please. Please, I need your help._

It wasn't two seconds after he finished his thought that the Chaos swirled in front of him, the blue-haired teen appearing. This incarnation had her hair pinned up in the back, her long bangs framing her thin face. Noel's breath caught- could this be his Yeul?

"I heard your call, Noel Kreiss," she said gently. The hunter tried to swallow his disappointment.

"Yes. Please. I need your help. There is a circular paradox that must be closed. I need to send a message out to New Bodhum in 700AF. I know that Chaos can warp time; could you get that message there?"

"There are many things the Chaos can do. Reach into the Chaos and tell us your message. We will do what we can for you," Yeul replied.

A black mist appeared in front of him, and Noel hesitantly put his hand in; the empty air took him by surprise. He had expected there to be some sort of matter in the Chaos. He closed his eyes, trying his best to remember the words from the crystal fragment.

 _Focus._

 _Hey there, Noel. This might be hard to believe- but this is you from the future. I'm just a little bit further along the timeline. This is a warning to my past self. There's a serious trial ahead of you. I know we're pretty tough, but this almost broke me. Just don't give up, and don't give in. I know it's weird coming from yourself, but trust me, I know you can do it._

Noel slowly opened his eyes as he finished, looking back into the cryptic eyes of this particular incarnation of Yeul.

"It's done," he told her, slowly withdrawing his hand from the Chaos.

She raised her arms in an arc above her head, tilting her head up before bringing them back down.

"We will do what we can, Noel Kreiss," she said before disappearing back into the mist. The hunter nodded- he had done his part. It was critical for him to send that message; he held on to his own words, repeating them over and over again each time the thought of his best friend's death threatened to push him over. As for Serah's message they found…he prayed to whoever was listening that she would be able to get her message there too. Turning around, he walked down the steps to where everyone was waiting, giving them smiles and quick answers to their questions as they boarded the airship and Sazh took off toward their newly-discovered problem.

* * *

Hope was the first to spot the unusually large life form wandering in what looked like the ruins of a city…but instead of it having been decimated, the rocks and rubble were floating, piecing themselves together like the Chaos-infested Academia just before Serah and Noel faced off against Caius. He was briefly reminded of his childhood five hundred years ago, when he still had the heart and time to play video games. The towering fal'Cie stood in the middle of the mess, the eye of the storm, as it fashioned bricks and cobblestones. From its side the four men could see the beginnings of a road, the base stones of walls not yet erected.

"Think it's safe to just…approach it?" Noel asked nervously. Snow took a moment to remember that his young friend had not dealt with a fal'Cie before; that at the very least, the people at the end were never their puppets or slaves. For that, he was grateful.

"This one just looks like it's...building," the silver-haired man said slowly.

The fal'Cie reminded Hope, Snow, and Sazh of Titan, the fal'Cie that had put them through a handful of trials to test their mettle on Gran Pulse five hundred years ago. They both had that towering shape, its arms and legs as bulky and muscular as rock and metal allowed them to be. While Titan was made of black volcanic rock with bright orange bands running all over its armored body and had bright orange eyes, this one was made entirely of white marble, green vines covering its body, and had green eyes. Wordlessly, Snow put a hand over his brand to draw out his eidolith, summoning Shiva and Nix. The two eidolon sisters flew toward the fal'Cie cautiously before a loud voice caused the four men to jump with surprise.

"I am fal'Cie," the giant boomed, turning toward the party. The Shiva sisters flew back to where they stood, Shiva flanking them on the right and Nix on the left, ready to jump into the fray if a fight broke out. "The Maker has named me Pandaemonium."

"The Maker?" Sazh blurted out before he could stop himself. "Isn't that what all the other fal'Cie were looking for when they wanted to destroy Cocoon?"

Pandaemonium took a giant step in their direction, the floating rocks clearing a way. "The Maker has given me two purposes and two purposes only," he started, not answering Sazh's question. "In the world of Nova Chrysalia, to shape the land. I am to build the holy city of Luxerion and the land of pleasure, Yusnaan, and to bury in the Dead Dunes secrets of the ancient past. I am to provide the human race with all supplies needed for their survival." The enormous being turned its head, looking straight at Snow. "This is the will of the Maker. L'Cie, will you accept a new Focus and protect me?"

"What, fal'Cie ask permission before branding people now?" the pilot snorted. Even though he saw him as a father figure, Hope shot him an exasperated look.

The blonde's face was a complete mask, no flicker of emotion giving his thoughts away. "Not until we get some answers," he said, voice unwavering. He had the feeling that unlike the fal'Cie before, this one was not going to outright kill them if he didn't accept the Focus. "What exactly is 'Nova Chrysalia'?"

"It is the name that the Maker has chosen for this new world," Pandaemonium replied. "A world tainted by the Chaos that Etro failed to contain in the Unseen Realm, the same Chaos I have been made to produce necessities for humanity."

"You sure that trusting what it says is the way to go?" Sazh asked his companions quietly, running a hand through his afro. "We don't have any fond memories when it comes to fal'Cie."

"Maybe we should take a look around Pulse- Nova Chrysalia," Hope corrected himself. "Before taking him up on that. And this whole thing about the 'Maker' is making me uneasy. It feels like Cocoon all over again. I mean, to help the human race survive? That's Eden."

"I agree with Hope. My old Focus- I can't fulfill it anyway now," Snow said, nodding. "We can check on Nova Chrysalia before coming back to this guy here."

"You sure it'll just let you walk away without getting pissed off and branding all of us again?" the pilot asked worriedly. The blond turned to the waiting fal'Cie.

"I get the feeling you aren't one of those fal'Cie that will kill us if I say no," he called to the giant. "We will return in a week's time."

Pandaemonium didn't respond. The enormous marble structure only turned, walking back to the floating rocks to resume construction of the First City.


	5. Chronostasis

**Summary** : Back on Bhunivelze, the leaders of the Academy discuss possible life on Nova Chrysalia (although the news is not well-received). Hope and his team of scientists find a flaw and hypothesizes that time may very well have stopped, with no way of proving it.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

* * *

 **Bhunivelze – 500AF (Five Days after the Chaos)**

"Are you insane?!" The board chairman yelled. Hope didn't even flinch, standing at the head of the table right in front of the holographic projection screen where both pictures and data of Nova Chrysalia and Bhunivelze were displayed. "You propose we move down _there_?! Director Estheim," he said, spitting the name out like something bitter. "With all this so-called Chaos, who knows what could happen to us? And fal'Cie?! You, of all people, as a former l'Cie, should be telling us to stay as far away as possible! Unless you're secretly their spy, _l'Cie scum_!"

Throughout his whole rant, Hope's face remained emotionless. "Chairman, if you are not going to _control your language_ , then I _will_ ask you to leave," the current Director of the Academy in 500AF, Director Nazca, said, glaring at the man. He scowled under her gaze, but thankfully kept his mouth shut.

Hope had immense respect for the woman who had been nothing but respectful and accommodating toward him since he arrived in this time period; she understood that he was purely there for research and had no intentions of taking over the Academy. Despite that, Director Nazca gave him a top advisory position, allowing him unlimited access to the Academy's resources and making decisions in the upper ranks of administration alongside herself. When she became Director in 492AF, she had won the respect and admiration of most people in the Academy, and had cited his accomplishments in her inauguration speech. Now, she nodded her head toward him. "Director Estheim, please proceed."

"Although we had trouble with fal'Cie five hundred years ago, the scans I completed in 10AF and 400AF showed that they have all died out. Pandaemonium is definitely an outlier in that it is the last remaining fal'Cie in the world. The fal'Cie only do what is commanded of them by either, for lack of a better term, a more powerful or dominating fal'Cie- which we have ruled out in this situation- or simply work toward the purpose they were made for, which, in this case, is building Nova Chrysalia and creating food for human consumption like the fal'Cie Carbuncle on Cocoon."

"Director, if I may," another board member spoke up. "I thought Bhunivelze was created by you as the new home for the human race. Why then would we need to ever move down to this," he paused to look down at his notes. "Nova Chrysalia?"

"Bhunivelze is self-sustaining in every way," Hope affirmed. "The proposal for relocation to Nova Chrysalia is simply a precaution, a Plan B, if, for any reason, we would need to leave. The fal'Cie is creating cities, habitation, and food for mankind; to take advantage of the available resources is not an unwise course of action."

Director Nazca folded her hands on the table in front of her. "Thank you, Director."

After Hope took a seat, discussions continued well into the afternoon, resulting in him stretching out his arms and back, letting out a sigh of relief as he walked out of the conference room after a grueling three hours. It was the last thing he needed when precisely five minutes after him walking back into his own lab, his assistant came running breathlessly into the room.

"Director!" she almost yelled. It was everything Hope could do not to sigh out loud.

"What is it?"

The assistant took a moment to catch her breath. "The Chaos you told us to research- Stacks put a chronometer into the Chaos residue and sir, _time is not passing_."

That made his aquamarine eyes widen, his breath catching in his throat. He walked briskly down the hall to the lab he had restricted access to, bar himself and a _very_ select group of scientists. Two days ago, he had gathered a team of ten researchers, all top of their field and people he could trust since coming to this era, to look into the Chaos. After his trek through the Temple and the sudden influx of it, Hope had a sinking feeling in his gut whenever the topic came up; he had to get to the bottom of it.

Hope slid his keycard in the scanner, the lab door in front of him sliding open to reveal a rather large lab with his team standing around one person's screen.

"Director!" a young, purple-haired scientist swiveled around in his chair to face him. Stacks Orregan, a recent graduate of the University of Academia, had been assigned to help Hope when he arrived in 500AF several weeks prior. The two bonded quickly, over both academics and their unnatural hair colors, and Hope had taken him under his wing in the Academy. A few other scientists in that room were recommended by Stacks, and seeing that the young man had a good judge of character (although not on Fang's level), Hope had conceded to meeting and recruiting them.

"Report," he said as he looked at the information on the screen. The chronometer flashed in the corner, a direct projection from the containment room inside the lab. The digital numbers were blinking, but instead of moving forward, it was _looping_.

"We tried three different chronometers, all with the same result right at the exact same time," Stacks explained. "Time seems to stand still within the Chaos. Our watches and clocks are working fine, but given the data from the Chaos, time is not passing as it should. And if the Chaos has completely covered Pulse- I mean, Nova Chrysalia- and Bhunivelze, then time may have been completely frozen, sir."

Whatever proved false you took away, and whatever was left, no matter how unlikely, must be the truth. The Director's lips were pressed into a thin line; he would have to let Noel, Snow, Sazh, and Director Nazca know. Emergency meetings would have to be called, and once the news was made known to the public, there would be mass confusion and panic. However, there would be no way to actually _prove_ Stack's hypothesis without time actually passing, a large amount of time, except for the chronometer. Maybe it would be better to just tell Director Nazca without spreading the word until they were certain of anything; that way he wouldn't have to answer the same questions everyone would have, those he didn't yet have answers to.

He thought back to Caius' words in Etro's Temple. What effect could the souls of all the Yeuls throughout time have through the Chaos? What else could the Chaos do, if it was powerful enough on a surface level to terraform the world? Was stopping time feasible, if the Chaos really had the power to warp time, that Yeul's suffering ended only by the end of time?

"Keep an eye on that chronometer," Hope ordered. "Run a full analysis on the Chaos within the containment room, and report the findings to me."

"Yes, sir!"

 **FinalFantasyXIII**

Messages had been sent out to Snow, Noel, and Sazh, and Hope had personally gone to Director Nazca's office to tell her the news. She was calm when he explained the situation; the silverette was convinced it was because it hadn't sunk in for her yet, but was grateful that it wasn't another three-hour meeting. By the time he _finally_ made it back to his own lab, everyone was gone for the night. He took a moment to himself, leaning his hip against one of his console panels to decompress from the extremely long day he had. Closing his eyes and breathing in deeply, he visualized the vast plains on Gran Pulse, the Archylte Steppe, the precipice of the Yaschas Massif, and pretended he was breathing the fresh, clean air of the Pulsian wilds. This zen technique he picked up in college helped his muscles to relax just a little before he exhaled fully, opening his eyes to walk to another part of the lab, sliding his keycard to gain access.

Inside the bare room was a single desk and chair, some stringed fairy lights, and not much else. The bare furnishing of the room was not the focal point though, as Hope's eyes were immediately drawn to the two crystalline figures placed in the center of the room.

After Sazh took Vanille and Fang out of the collapsing pillar, it was deemed that their crystal would be safest with Hope. The silverette's heart clenched as he walked to the frozen shapes of his friends. Wearily, he put on a weak smile, sitting down in the chair next to them.

"Hey Fang, Vanille," he started, putting a gloved hand on top of their entwined ones. "Sorry, I haven't really had the chance to sit down to talk with you guys in a few days. Things are…pretty hectic right now."

The air rung with expectancy after that, causing Hope to let out the breath he had been holding. He could just see the exasperated looks that would have been on both women's faces as they put their hands on their hips, waiting for him to cave and tell the truth. If Lightning were here, she would have given him the glare, the one that never failed to make him feel like a disobedient child.

"All right, so things suck. Serah is gone, Light is in crystal stasis, a fal'Cie has appeared, and now time has stopped. People are looking to me, asking me for answers when I don't have any, and not that I have any right to complain in front of you two, but the weight of the world is _heavy._ "

Hope ran his other hand over his face, sighing. It may have been his imagination, but he could feel Vanille waiting, encouraging him to keep talking and get it off his chest.

"How did you guys do it?" He asked quietly. "How did you two manage the weight of the world on your shoulders for five hundred years? How did Light manage, knowing that the entire timeline was at stake?"

The Academy director bowed his head, closing his eyes and imagined, just for a moment, that his family was whole again, that one of them wasn't dead, that three of them weren't frozen in an eternal crystal sleep. He imagined Fang putting a hand on his silver head like she used to when teaching him to hunt on Gran Pulse, imagined Lightning's arm around his shoulder, comforting him the way she did when he realized Vanille and Fang were gone. He imagined Vanille taking his hand, lacing their fingers together, and like that, Hope dropped the front he carried as Director, leader of the people, hope for the future, and was just Hope Estheim, the fourteen-year-old who needed them when he needed strength, staying vigil by their crystal's side.


	6. l'Cie

This chapter took a while! I apologize. I've been working simultaneously on this fic and another one based off Final Fantasy XV (if you haven't played, please do yourself a favor and do it). I actually started and completed a series in XV and started another long fic all the while writing this one, so updating and finishing this chapter took a little bit. It's shorter, but I wanted to highlight Snow's story too and underline his motives that will carry him through the rest of the series. Thanks for reading! Please drop a comment if you like :)

 **Summary:** Snow is finally ready to tell his story.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own Final Fantasy XIII

* * *

 **Nova Chrysalia – 500AF (Nine Days after the Chaos)**

"Are you sure about this?" Hope asked. "It's not too late to say no, you know."

Snow cracked his knuckles. "Yeah, I'm sure." The two friends stayed silent for a moment, letting the wind blow through their hair and against their faces as the airship sped toward Nova Chrysalia. Sensing that he had more to say, the Academy Director didn't speak up, allowing him to take his time to gather his thoughts, and Sazh, able to hear their conversation from the cockpit, also stayed quiet. It stretched on, even after they left Bhunivelze airspace and followed the landscape of Nova Chrysalia.

The fresh air did them all good; Hope had either been cornered in meetings or locked up in the Chaos lab, researching alongside Stacks and the others, trying to get to the bottom of the question of time. Snow and Noel had been cooped up in the Academy library, helping them research in any way they could, the former attending some meetings alongside Hope. He was a surprisingly good politician, holding his own and a calm demeanor in dealing with both the board members and stress in this time when none of them had answers. Noel, thankfully already fluent in reading both Pulse and Cocoon script, took the time of research as an opportunity to further his education. Although the world was quite literally drowning in Chaos, this small ambition of his in the grand scheme of things made Hope extremely proud of his friend, and helped in any way he could when he could spare time.

The evening was beginning to set in; it would be another few minutes until they reached Pandaemonium. The view of the sunset, no matter in which era, never failed to bring out the nostalgia in the young scientist, reminding him of the color of Vanille's hair, the color of the sunsets back home in Palumpolum five hundred years ago. His teal eyes took in each small detail; the angle of the sun rays, the birds making their way back to their nests, until Snow finally spoke again.

"I never told you how I became a l'Cie again, did I."

Statement, not question. Hope's aquamarine eyes looked into his friend's bright blue ones, giving him his undivided attention. If Snow was ready to open up, he would listen.

The big man let out a breath, breathing in again before starting his story. "Back in New Bodhum, around 1AF, Serah kept telling me, kept trying to convince us Lightning was still out there, was with us that day and not in the crystal pillar with Fang and Vanille. I…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "It took a while for me to believe her completely, but the more I thought about it, I got an uncomfortable feeling in my gut. Like something just didn't sit right with me. I remember, right before setting out, I had that meeting with you and Sazh." He nodded at Hope. "You both felt the same way."

"Yeah," the silverette affirmed. "I finished high school a couple of years early, you remember. Back then, I told you that my instincts were telling me something was way off."

"After what happened, you learned to trust your gut." Snow gave him a small smile, slapping a hand onto his back. "And I could see you, you know. In the Historia Crux, sometimes, I wound up in an era that coincided with everyone growing up. Never said hello, timelines and all," he added hastily at seeing both the surprise and narrowing of Hope's eyes. "It wasn't much, but I saw snippets of you in college and beginning your career at the Academy. Just so you know, Hope," a large hand clasped his shoulder. "You did good. I have no doubt that Fang, Vanille, and Light could see you from where they were. You've done us all proud."

Not accustomed to the sentiment from him, the young scientist shuffled his feet, a sure sign of his embarrassment. Snow laughed, continuing with his story. "Anyway, I set out from New Bodhum, trying to track down some clues to see what I could find out about the Chaos and Sis. I met up with Rygdea and the Calvary, and when we got to the Archylte Steppe, I found this cactuar that turned out to be a fal'Cie. Got the hell out of there before the thing could brand me though. But later, I found out that it lost its memories. The thing had no idea it was a fal'Cie. I thought that, you know, I might need its help. A bunch of monsters attacked us on an airship after that. Remember the ones from the Fifth Ark? Cactuar and I lured them away, back to the Ark, where all this Chaos had converged. I didn't know it at the time, so I went in anyway, and got stuck in an incomplete Time Gate."

"That was right after you met up with me briefly in Palumpolum," Hope murmured in realization.

His friend nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, incomplete Time Gate. We got sucked into the Historia Crux and then spit out at this place called the Coliseum. That was when Cactuar got all his memories back, like a switched ha flipped. It tried to brand me then, but I refused. I think after everything we went through, it had a soft spot for me," Snow said with a grin. "The Arbiter of Time threw us out, but we ended up in a looped time distortion, and it was like all of history playing in front of my eyes at the same time. Most of it's a blur, really. But I…" he faltered, looking at the ground. Hope put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, gently urging him to continue.

"I saw it, you know. I saw that last battle with Serah and Noel and Caius. I saw Serah die and all that we had worked for in New Bodhum in ruins. So I asked Cactuar to make me a l'Cie, that I would have the Focus of finding Serah and fighting by her side."

The silverette's heart broke all over again for him, thinking of the pink-haired woman lying in one of the rooms in his lab. To have known all of this was to happen and know you were going to lose the one you loved…how did Snow live with that? With the dread of knowing Serah was gone by the time he got them message they sent from Bhunivelze? He couldn't begin to imagine the guilt that must plague him every day, every moment knowing he couldn't save his fiancé. Hope waited for him until he took a deep breath, ready to keep telling his story.

"We got out of the distortion and appeared next to a complete Time Gate at the Fifth Ark. So we went in, traveling in the Historia Crux. I saw Sazh, you know," he choked out a chuckle. "Couldn't stop to say hi; the most we had time for was a wave before I got out to the Sunleth Waterscape in 300AF. That was where Lightning came to me in a dream, and then Noel and Serah found me."

"So…you were made a l'Cie to help Serah," Hope said. "But Snow-" he started, his eyes suddenly wide and alert. "What's going to happen now? Your brand is still there. Your Focus-"

"I'll keep going," Snow replied firmly. "I know that we'll figure it out. I'll keep fighting to bring Serah back. And even if…even if we can't, the world still needs a hero." He tried hiding his pain with a confident smile. Hope knew better, but went along with it anyway, wanting to support his friend in any way he could. "I'll do whatever I can to help you keep the world running. Noel will too. Besides, Pandaemonium is going to give me a new Focus anyway."

That didn't assuage Hope's worries, but he didn't say another word.

The two men were quiet then, both trying to absorb the information that had passed between them. The airship began a slight descent when Pandemonium could be seen in the distance. Already, they could see what looked like the outskirts of a city, the foundations laid and ready to be built on. Hope turned to Snow one more time.

"Seriously, big guy. Not too late to reconsider."

The blonde barked out a laugh. "Hope. I literally just said I'd do whatever I can to help you keep the world running."

Conversation ended there as they approached the marble-made fal'Cie, Sazh bringing the airship to a hover right in front of it. Pandaemonium's jade-green eyes looked at the humans before it, making no move to harm them. Snow let out a breath. It was time.

"Fal'Cie Pandaemonium! I will accept a new Focus to protect you! I will help in distributing the supplies created to the world!" The blond called out. Pandaemonium lifted one enormous hand in his direction, and a beam of light shot from him to Snow, outlining his form for a moment before disappearing. It was like a bucket of water had been dumped on him, but instead of being soaked, Snow knew that both his brand and his Focus had been renewed.

"Go forth, l'Cie," Pandaemonium boomed. "Fulfill your Focus."


	7. A Sea of Chaos

AHH! I'm SUPER behind in updating this chapter! The holidays were a pretty busy time, what with travel and all, and I took the time out complete chapters for Nox Caelum as well as a oneshot. This chapter has been sitting in my computer for a week or so now; it's much shorter, but it's setting Nova Chrysalia up for the next five hundred years, and the ways that it will change in those few centuries. Next chapter will be up soon! It'll be much longer, and we'll start to see some weird things since the world is all out of whack. It'll be up to Hope, Noel, and Snow to figure this new world out when nothing is certain.

Thank you guys for your support! See y'all soon!

 **Summary** : It was comforting to have family around, Chaos or not. He had never really known what having family was like anyway.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own Final Fantasy XIII

* * *

 **Nova Chrysalia – 500AF (Thirty Days after the Chaos)**

"There!"

Another patch of land covered in the black mist, where by experience, Noel knew dangerous and powerful monsters lurked. The Chaos, ever in flux, seemed to swirl in a circle, its movements creating a checkered pattern for those looking form the outside. Snow skimmed a hand over the map he held, marking with red ink the spot the young hunter pointed out.

"We've barely covered a quarter of this place; there's already six Chaos spots. Who knows how many more there could be?" the blond asked. He almost felt like throwing both map and pen over the side rail of the airship as Sazh circled around slowly, giving them ample time to survey the area below. He and Noel, recommended by Hope, were placed in charge of a squad of Academy soldiers by Director Nazca for reconnaissance of the situation on the ground after Noel's stumble into the Chaos a few days ago-

 _Noel hadn't meant to wander far, really. He was with Snow on Nova Chrysalia, waiting as the bigger man spoke to the fal'Cie. Sure, Pandaemonium was intimidating and unlike anything Noel had seen before, the closest comparison being the Atlas machine he and Serah had defeated in the past, but there were only so many minutes he could ogle at it before he needed to do_ something. _It and Snow kept talking as the fal'Cie kept building cobblestone streets and brown stone buildings and structures, so Noel walked off, intending to inspect the city that Pandaemonium had constructed so far._

 _So engrossed by the sights and picking apart all the details was he that he hadn't even noticed that he was surrounded by Chaos until he was quite literally blinded by the black mist, the wind picking up and ruffling his hair and clothes when he reacted purely out of instinct. Something tugged at the back of Noel's mind, and he drew his swords just in time to stop the attack of a raging dragon and several gremlins. The latter were quickly disposed of, but the former, well…Noel ran as fast as he could until he was out of the Chaos, the dragon's roar ringing behind him._

The young hunter almost shuddered at the memory. "Better safe than sorry," he reprimanded Snow, who cracked a grin. "Besides, if Hope is really trying to convince the Board to start colonization here, we'll need to have the full picture of what's happening. Wouldn't want anyone to, you know, accidentally walk into one of these and get themselves killed."

Snow snorted as Sazh put the airship down outside of the Chaos zone, the squad disembarking.

"Scour the area for any enemies that may have escaped," the blond ordered. "We'll regroup in fifteen here to go into the zone and take on the monsters there."

"We haven't been this far out before," Noel murmured as he took in his surroundings. Their ventures in following the Chaos spots took them beyond explored territory; they had flown beyond the Wildlands, and into a rocky terrain, moss clinging to the stone and water vapor heavy in the air. Streams of water cut through the rock, a lake on the sides of the stone paths that lay from the Wildland roads to whatever lay ahead. The brunet took in a deep breath, admiring the scenery around him. Snow bent down on one knee, putting a gloved hand onto the rock.

"The Sulyya Springs," he said. "Who would have thought. Five hundred years and a terraform later, and this place is still here."

Noel smiled. "Lots of memories?" he asked, noting the wistful look in his friend's eyes.

"Just one of the places we passed by when we were l'Cie- _all_ l'Cie," Snow said, hastily correcting himself when he saw the look the brunet shot him. "It was real nice here to take a breather in the middle of our way through Gran Pulse. Before everything changed. It's nice to know that just a small piece of what happened all those centuries survived. It's comforting."

He didn't have to elaborate for Noel to know what he meant. Even throughout his journey with Serah, Noel had found himself looking for things that reminded him of the time he was from- though it was hopeless and dead at the end of the world, he couldn't change his roots any more than he could change the fact that Yeul and Serah were gone. In the midst of the Chaos, both literal and figurative, he, too, had looked for some sort of consistency to anchor him to reality. Fighting Chaos monsters, like he and Snow were doing now, helped. The hours he spent in the Academy library, throwing himself into education, helped. Snow and Hope's presences helped. Noel almost shook his head; he had no idea when he first met them that he would consider them brothers. It was comforting to have family around, Chaos or not. He had never really known what having family was like anyway.

 **FinalFantasyXIII**

Dajh was there to greet the squad at the airship ramp with Sazh two hours later when the soldiers and their two leaders had scoured the entire area and cleared out the monsters. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially if the colonization plans _did_ go through the Academy board and people were really going to move down here within the next few years. The city that Pandaemonium was building looked promising; Snow could envision people living there, no longer in fear, but cared for. The hero in him would not let him rest until that vision was seen to.

The airship took off, climbing higher and higher above the area, prepared to fly back to Bhunivelze when Noel stopped them. " _Sazh_!" he yelled into the intercom. Something in the distance caught his eye, an uncomfortable feeling stirring in his gut. "I think I see something! Head due west!"

Despite his confusion, the pilot heeded his words. Snow stepped up to the railing next to him, putting a gloved hand up to his eyes and shielding them from the rays of the sunset, trying to see what the hunter was looking at. "What is it?" he asked, ducking his head around in different angles. Noel lifted his finger to the horizon.

"There! Don't you see it?"

"What's there to see?"

The brunet almost growled in frustration. "There's a whole _bunch_ of Chaos just gathered there!"

It wasn't until the airship flew closer that Snow was able to clearly understand what he was talking about it. His mouth went slack; his arm fell to his side, and all the words he had in mind flew out of his open mouth. Looming in front of the airship was the black mist of Chaos, hovering just over what looked like black ink. It was too thick to be water; whatever was crashing onto the shore in waves was too dense.

"What…is…that…" the blond breathed, barely managing to form a coherent thought. The Chaos swirled threateningly in the cloud, warning them to not come any closer. Sazh pushed the ship up higher, and sure enough, all the party on the deck could see into the horizon was Chaos. "It's like a sea," Snow remarked. In an instant, his thoughts were transported to Bodhum on Cocoon, to New Bodhum on Gran Pulse. His home was no more; this was a poorly-constructed mirror image, and it pricked at his heart knowing that this was the closest it would come to his hometown.

"A sea of Chaos," Noel mused quietly. "Maybe we should just call it that. I wonder if it goes all the way around Nova Chrysalia."

Snow couldn't find the will to respond.


	8. The Future is Hope

Hey everyone! Sorry, I haven't updated in like...A MONTH. For some reason, this chapter was really tough to get through =\ but THANK YOU for the continued support! Your favorites and follows and reads mean a ton :) I promise I will try to update once a week, at LEAST once every two weeks, like I used to. For now, enjoy! :) and yes, I did take the chapter title from XIII-2...because it is startlingly accurate ;p

 **Thank you** to **Meyneth24** :) this chapter is dedicated to you.

 **Summary** : "No matter what the future holds…" he trailed off, voice softening as he said his last words. "We will see our way through it."

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series.

* * *

 **Bhunivelze – 500AF (Two Hundred and Ten Days after the Chaos)**

Stacks Orregan walked briskly down the hall of the Academy headquarters, intent on getting to his destination. He stopped in front of one specific door, sliding his keycard to gain access to a rather large research lab with no one inside. He quickly made his way to one of the side rooms, opening the door to see two crystalline figures in the middle of the room. The person he was looking for was asleep in the chair next to the crystal, his silver head supported by the back of the chair. His hair was mussed, and there were dark circles under his eyes, tie askew. Stacks frowned. If he was falling asleep in the middle of the day, he probably didn't get any sleep the past two nights, knowing his sleeping habits.

"Hope. Hope," he called, gently shaking his friend awake. The silveret stirred, yawning.

"What is it?" he asked, rubbing his aquamarine eyes. Stacks ran a hand through his own purple hair.

"I'm sorry to have to wake you up," he said apologetically. "But something weird just came in, and I figured you would want to take a look ASAP."

Suddenly alert, Hope sprang up from his chair, all the while fixing his appearance. With one last look at the crystal, he walked out of the room, smiling to himself when heard Stacks stop and say, "Lady Fang. Lady Vanille," before following him.

* * *

"What's the problem?" Hope asked as soon as he walked into the conference room, getting a word in before anyone else could speak. Director Nazca, the members of the board, and several other scientists were there, all with troubled looks on their faces.

"Director Estheim," Nazca greeted him, gesturing to a chair. He took a seat before she continued to speak. "Several hospitals in the area have sent out reports of miscarriages- a startling amount of them. When asked to provide other records, we have found that there haven't been any births the past seven months."

"Seven months. That corresponds to the influx of Chaos," Stacks, standing behind Hope, said under his breath. The silveret's eyebrows furrowed as he followed along with the conversation, relieved when the discussion came to an end. Until the board had more information, they would not decide on a course of action- which meant that it was time for Hope and the others to get to work.

"Have all the reports from the hospitals sent to me, and _make sure_ they include _all_ miscarriages, _all_ pregnancies, _all_ births, and _all_ deaths," Hope instructed his assistant. "And get records from every hospital in Bhunivelze, and whoever is still left in any hospital or makeshift hospital on Gran Pulse after the settlement last month."

"Yes sir," she said, nodded, and walked off, quickly typing away at her handheld device and tapping her comm. Stacks kept pace with his mentor, awaiting his instructions. "Stacks, I need you to head back to the lab and look further into the Chaos. If your theory is that the Chaos caused time to stop, we may need to look into how that affects human biology. I need to get a message to Snow and Noel."

* * *

"Hope!" Snow said cheerfully into the phone. "We just finished looking at the city Pandaemonium's been building. It says it's halfway done-"

The scientist didn't even try to stop his friend; he just slumped his back against the chair he was sitting in, and put a hand over his face to wait it out.

"-We're about to head into another Chaos area today to kill off more monsters, and-"

Time was running short. Hope decided to cut his losses and attempt to talk over him.

"Snow, something's happened."

That got the blond's attention. "What's happened? We can head back right-"

A loud roar was heard over the phone, causing Hope's eyes to snap open. "Snow, what's-"

"Call you later!"

The line went dead.

* * *

Blood. There was blood everywhere, the man's dying groans reverberating through the airship as Sazh sped toward Bhunivelze. Noel was doing everything he could to stop the bleeding and save his life, but no matter what he tried, the soldier was losing blood, and fast.

"Hello?!" Snow barked into the phone. "This is Snow Villiers, we've got a situation here! We've got a man down, he was injured on a Chaos recon trip on Nova Chrysalia. Your hospital is the closest one, prep for immediate action!"

Every minute ticked by, more blood soaking the already-dripping cloths, shirts, jackets, anything and everything Noel had tried to staunch the bleeding with. There was nothing more he could do than hold the article of clothing against the deep gash on the man's side, hoping that it would at least help a little. His hands were slippery with the dark red liquid, still warm from his body.

"Snow," the brunet grunted through gritted teeth. "He's not looking good." He tried to speak quietly, choosing words that wouldn't alarm the soldier underneath his hands even if the man was too far gone in his pain and spasms to hear him or pay attention to what he was saying.

It was cutting it close by the time Sazh hastily landed the airship right outside of the hospital doors, nurses and doctors immediately lifting the man onto the floating stretcher and rushing him inside. As Snow made the call to Hope, Noel went with them to let them know what, exactly, happened to him before he could wash off the blood that had caked onto his hands, his arms, and even his face. The blood that got onto his clothes were going to have to wait.

"Chaos monster," he explained quickly as the group rushed down the hall to one of the operating rooms. "It got him on the side. Big dragon. Big claws."

That was as far as he got before they reached the operating room, another nurse ushering him to the showers. When he emerged several minutes later, the expression on Snow's face made his breath catch in his throat.

"We need to get back to Bhunivelze," the blond said grimly.

* * *

The duo found Hope in the middle of research inside the main lab with the other scientists, everyone pouring over stacks of paper and entering the information into the systems. Their silver-haired friend looked up at them with a tired expression as he ran a hand over his face.

"Stacks had a theory," he started speaking before Snow or Noel could ask any questions. "That the Chaos caused time to stop. Then reports from hospitals came in- there's been a huge number of miscarriages in the past seven months, which matches up with when the influx of Chaos started. No one's been born. And no one's died from old age either, according to the records."

Noel's phone rang, and the brunet stepped aside to answer it while Snow and Hope continued the discussion.

"Does anyone else know?" Snow asked quietly.

"Not yet," Hope said. "No one outside of this room knows anything yet, except Director Nazca. I told her the preliminary hypothesis about time stopping. I think…the best thing to do is to talk to her about this first before talking to the board. You know them," he continued with a grimace. "They won't take it well."

"But then afterward, they'll make _you_ make a public speech about it," the blond murmured. "Those bastards won't want to take responsibility for any of this stuff."

Noel made his way back to the two then, a grim look on his face. "The man from earlier- he's dead. They couldn't do anything for him."

Hope's aquamarine eyes swung over to Snow, demanding an explanation. The latter sighed. "We were out on patrol just now, looking over some other Chaos spots. One of our guys got caught in a skirmish with a dragon, and he was mauled. We got him to a hospital, but…well, he didn't make it."

The scientist's eyebrows furrowed. "So people _can_ die even if time froze," he said. Noel and Snow both looked disbelievingly at him. "I'm sorry, I don't feel good that someone's dead, but his passing is helped us garner more information. And the more information we have at this point, the better. We're only seven months into this Chaos period; who knows what might happen next?"

Neither could argue with that point. Letting out a breath, Hope straightened, brushing imaginary lint off his jacket before turning to the purple-haired youth who appeared next to him. "Stacks, would you please gather the information we have into a report and have that given to me by the end of the day? I need to hold a meeting with the Director."

* * *

Director Nazca's face had been grave when Hope brought the news to her, and she had called a board meeting immediately. Hope was spot-on when he said they wouldn't take it well- there were a lot of stunned silences, a lot of yelling afterwards, and then, as Snow had said earlier, they wanted Hope to make the official announcement. Even Director Nazca didn't refute it; Hope had quite the reputation and influence being the one who created Bhunivelze, reared now as the leader of humanity (much to the disgruntlement of the board members), and so she thought the news would be more well-received coming from him.

It was writing the speech that took a while. There was simply no good way to tell someone that time was frozen, no one could be born, no one could age, and no one could die from aging. The day of the speech came, a cloudy day with dark clouds hanging over as Hope prepared to walk onto the platform in front of an enormous crowd and what looked like hundreds of cameras pointed at him, ready to livestream him into all available networks on Bhunivelze and any that may have been established on Nova Chrysalia.

The young scientist blew out a nervous breath backstage, and Snow clasped a large hand on his shoulder. "You got this," the bigger man said comfortingly. "You've already given us so much hope the past five hundred years. You can perform more miracles than you think, Hope."

Hope looked down at the ground, shuffling his feet before clearing his throat, steeling his gaze at the drawn curtains and the foot of the stairs that peeked through. He straightened, thinking of Lightning in the moments that she had stood up to their adversaries all those centuries ago, the bold way she made her declarations, thinking of Fang and her quiet strength, of Vanille and her determination. With only a nod, he pushed back the curtains and walked up the steps to the podium, waiting for the applause to die down.

"Everyone," he began, his voice wavering only slightly. "Everyone, these are hard times. Since the influx of Chaos and the terraforming of our world, it has been one trial after another, trying to adjust to life on Bhunivelze and the changes that have been made to Nova Chrysalia. Everyone here has a home, has loved ones, has precious memories and things that they wish to keep safe."

There were slight ripples of nods, murmurs of affirmation as he said these words. Hope knew this was the easy part; it was what had to come next, the heavy truth with the weight of an anvil that would thrust humanity face to face with the unknown, with their deepest fears laid in front of the darkness, that would test humanity's resolve.

"In these past seven months, there have been countless, tireless studies done to look at the effects of the Chaos, to determine the best route for us, the human race, to take as we travel through these uncertain times. What we've found-" he stopped here for only a second to gather his courage, to gather his thoughts. "What we've found is that the Chaos affects time and space. It has not only terraformed our world, but has caused the stopping of time as well."

It was instantaneous; everyone started speaking all at once, panicking and gasping, and Hope _needed to do something_.

"We're not sure whether that's a lasting effect yet, or if the Chaos will simply vanish," he said quickly. "But if the past five hundred, the past one thousand years have proved anything, it is that we are resilient. We can overcome any odds, if we stand together. And it is together that we can rebuild our world."

A roar of cheers erupted from the crowd, giving Hope the courage to go on. "We can unite both Bhunivelze and Nova Chrysalia," he continued. "We can support each other, wherever we decide to settle to continue living our lives. We can unite the whole of Nova Chrysalia, using a monorail, to bring together people wherever you may be."

"No matter what the future holds…" he trailed off, voice softening as he said his last words. "We will see our way through it."


	9. Sinking Sand

I'M SORRY I'M LATE UPDATING but my laptop charger DIED, so I had to order a new one and then wait for it to come in and finish the rest of the chapter...sorry for the wait! It's a shortish update, but the next few chapters will be fairly short as well in setting up for the next part of the series. Thank you guys so much for your patience and support! I promise I will try harder to update faster :)

Thank you to **Guest** (sorry, anon!) and **Meyneth24** for your reviews! They really mean a lot :)

 **Summary** : The worried glance the Director gave him mirrored his own concern. In a world where time was frozen, his team was ironically running out of it.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own Final Fantasy XIII

* * *

 **Bhunivelze – 501AF** (Four Hundred and Twenty-Four Days after the Chaos)

"Green One taking off!" Sazh yelled into the comm as he piloted the ship off the surface of the city down to Nova Chrysalia right before the ground gave way beneath. Screams were heard as buildings fell, as the unfortunate souls that couldn't escape in time tumbled to their demise amidst the falling steel, glass, and concrete. The pilot looked away with a heartbroken expression, closing his eyes for a moment to honor them. He couldn't be more relieved that he left Dajh with Snow and the others when he flew out from Academy Headquarters; it was an immediate call for all pilots to fly out when the city began to violently shake and crumble, an emergency rescue mission to evacuate all citizens to Pandaemonium's newly-completed city- dubbed by the fal'Cie as Luxerion, the First City.

"Status report?" Director Nazca's voice said through crackled static.

"The city has fallen," the mission leader replied, tone heavy with grief. "Transporting citizens to Luxerion now."

"Good. All hospitals and makeshift health centers on the surface are standing by. Report in an hour."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

The chairman's hands slammed onto the table, causing a few people at the table to flinch. Hope, who was standing, didn't move a muscle in the face of the extremely angry man in front of him. His face was growing steadily redder with each passing moment, causing the scientist to wonder whether it was because he was holding his breath in his rage, or because it was his natural inclination to look like a pig. Honestly, he was leaning toward the latter…not that his professionalism would allow him to say that out loud in a meeting such as the one he was in now. In those words, anyway.

"I thought Bhunivelze was built to withstand _anything_!" the chairman yelled in outrage.

Hope nodded. "Yes, the Ark was tested multiple times, so we know it is extremely stable whether it is deterioration from time or natural disasters. However, the Chaos is a new energy that may be affecting it adversely in ways that we have not yet discovered. My team and I are doing what we can to get to the bottom of the situation and to maintain, if not repair, the surface of Bhunivelze."

"Director Estheim," another board member spoke up, brushing her bangs back from her face. "If it is the Chaos that is causing the deterioration, does that mean that Bhunivelze is now unstable for habitation?"

He was really, really hoping to avoid this question, but he cleared his throat to answer. "No, Bhunivelze is still stable according to the information we got from the recon teams that were dispatched today. Although, it would be a good idea to evacuate the cities surrounding the one that had collapsed onto Nova Chrysalia."

Director Nazca studied his expression. "Perhaps we should be considering safety precautions and evacuation procedures for every city on Bhunivelze."

"I think it would be a good idea for us to begin preparations for the monorail on Nova Chrysalia," Hope said, a sort of sideways approach in agreeing with her. "Since the completion of Luxerion, there haven't been that many settlements on Nova Chrysalia yet, but perhaps the monorail will encourage relocation if it truly is needed in the future."

The worried glance the Director gave him mirrored his own concern. In a world where time was frozen, his team was ironically running out of it.

* * *

Sazh returned late that night to Hope's set of rooms where he found Hope, Snow, and Noel talking quietly around the dining table inside the small, open kitchenette-living room. All three looked up when he entered, all noting the heartbroken, tired, and worn expression on his face. He dropped into one of the empty chairs before closing his eyes, slumping completely against it. It was silent for a few minutes, which he was grateful for- he needed the time to decompress from the events of the day, and he knew the others would wait until he was ready to talk.

"It was bad," he muttered without opening his eyes. "The whole city was caving in. Did you guys watch the news?"

"Yeah, we followed along," Noel replied softly. Sazh let out a deep sigh and cracked his eyes open. "Was it like the news said? Bhunivelze- did it just-"

"Crumble? Yeah," the pilot affirmed. "It caved in. But it looked like it was breaking down. Deteriorating, almost, when we did a fly-over recon."

"Hope?" Snow asked gently. The silveret had been silent throughout the whole exchange, his brows furrowed in thought.

"The materials used to construct Bhunivelze were all triple-reinforced to prevent deteriorating," Hope said slowly, trying to work his way through the problem out loud. "And have been tested multiple times before settlement."

"But would the Chaos have anything to do with it?" Noel spoke up. "Maybe the Chaos freezes time, but causes a deterioration of other things. Like that Sea of Chaos we saw a few months ago? We should get that checked out. Maybe it causes deterioration of land as well. And if that is happening to natural earth, what would that do to Bhunivelze, a man-made Ark, even if it had only been launched a little over a year ago?"

Hope wearily passed a hand over his face. "We can send out a recon team tomorrow to do an aerial scan of Nova Chrysalia and compare it to the results we got last year to see if the land mass has shrunk in any way, shape, or form. I'll continue to work with the Chaos, I think we're getting close to something big."

The four men were quiet for a moment, taking in the several minutes of stillness and peace they had before the continued insanity would begin again the next day. Sazh was the first to break the silence, yawning as he stood up to stretch. "I could do with a shower," he said. "Dajh?"

Hope pointed to the spare bedroom next to his. "Fell asleep a couple of hours ago."

With a grateful nod, Sazh entered the room to carefully pick up his sleeping son.

* * *

It was just as Noel had predicted- the Sea of Chaos that surrounded Nova Chrysalia had moved forward an exact measurement of a hundred square feet in comparison to the Academy's charts from last year's reconnaissance mission. There was nothing left; the Chaos had completely swallowed the land, including half of the Sulyya Springs. Snow was upset when he found out, the sadness evident in his bright blue eyes and his slightly-off smile. Hope had a whole week to work with that information as well as continued research into the properties of the Chaos alongside Stacks and the other scientists without interference from the board or the media, courtesy of Snow. How he managed to get them off Hope's back for a whole seven days he would never understand, but was extremely grateful for nonetheless.

Hope frowned at the swirling Chaos in the containment unit in front of him, tapping his index finger to his chin- a habit he recognized as one he had picked up from Vanille, and allowed a smile to slip onto his lips before he refocused his concentration. The frustration of their situation drove him up the proverbial wall; he was used to dealing with big projects, but his gut told him this was bigger than any question, any puzzle he's ever come up against, even with his study of the Oracle Drive, with the construction of the New Cocoon Project and Bhunivelze, with even mother _flipping_ time travel. He almost snorted at the thought. Even _time travel_ wasn't complicated enough to be the biggest thing he's ever tackled. The silveret sighed, his thoughts as jumbled as the Chaos in front of him.

 _Think, Hope. What would Vanille do?_

He mentally winced at the question, deciding that knowing her, it was better left unanswered. What would Fang do? Probably take her spear and smash the containment unit out of pure frustration. Which, Hope mused, was not a bad idea. He was pretty close to drawing his boomerang as it was.

Hope shook his head. That would be a _terrible_ idea.

 _Focus. What would Light do?_

Groaning, he slumped into the chair he was sitting on and pulled out his boomerang anyway, fiddling with it just to have something to do with his hands. That's what Lightning would do, get frustrated and start _demanding_ answers. Only this time, he had no way of demanding anything from a cloud of intangible dark fog. He nearly fell from his chair in surprise when the door slid open and one of the scientists came rushing in, a short, brown-haired young woman with her haired tied into a hasty ponytail and glasses askew, named Pidge. She gaped at him with his weapon, and Hope could do nothing but stare awkwardly back at her, waiting for her to say something. Idly, he wondered whether she thought he was going to destroy the thing like he so wanted to.

Finally, Pidge cleared her throat, finding her voice. "Sir, um…what did you do?"

Hope looked at the weapon in his hands and then back to her. "Uh…nothing."

She straightened to look at him, pushing her glasses up her nose and clearing her throat once again. "We've detected a small change in the Chaos in the past thirty seconds- of which you were the only person in the room with the Chaos. So…what did you do?"

He stared blankly at her. "I…took out my boomerang?"

Pidge's brow creased in concentration, then her eyes lit up as an epiphany hit her. She dashed back out of the room, tossing instructions behind her. "When I leave, put it away, wait thirty seconds, then take it out again!"

Hope looked at her retreating form with a gob smacked expression before he gathered himself, sighed, and put his weapon away.

 _30…29…28…27…_

After what _felt_ like thirty seconds, he took it out again, and managed to not tumble out of his chair as Pidge ran into the room a second time. "Oh yeah, it's definitely your thing," she said breathlessly with a wide grin. "As soon as you took it out, there was a blip in the Chaos. Something in your boomerang is affecting it."

Surprised, Hope stared at Nue, squinting his eyes at it. One would think, after fighting with this weapon for over a decade, he would know all of its secrets by now.

 _What are you keeping from me?_

He mentally ran over the list of possibilities- was the Chaos reacting because it was a weapon? No, that made no sense. If that were the case, the Chaos would be haywire on the charts right now due to the sheer number of them in the world. Was it because of the components that went into making it? Some sturdy bones, some other organic components, a few superconductors, a trapezohedron…could it be the trapezohedron? He would need Sazh and Snow here to make sure with their weapons. Somehow, something in his gut told him that wasn't it.

Then, the answer smacked into him like a ton of bricks crashing down, and he wanted to hit himself for not thinking of it sooner.

 _So much for trying to think like Light._

Nue got a kick added to its powers because of the AMP tech imbued in the weapon. It _had_ to be AMP. Five centuries ago, AMP technology had been the peak of technological advances because it had the ability to synthesize the effects of magic and could manipulate phenomena like gravity. Who's to say that at this point, AMP hasn't developed until it could control _other_ phenomena…like time?

Hope leaned forward in his chair, his brain calculating a mile a minute. The Academy has no shortage of AMP tech he could sign off for the team to utilize in their research. If his hypothesis proved true, then the possibilities of how to solve this problem could be _endless._

 _Think like Light._

" _Keep your mind on the battle. We can win if we stay focused."_

He thought of the soldier with the pink hair, the warrior who wore blue, and the girl who took his hand and laced their fingers together roaming the wilds of Gran Pulse, and of the home he wanted to give them when they finally awoke.


	10. The First City

Hey guys! Sorry! I was busy trying to work out something for my other fic that I didn't have the chance to start this chapter until a little later, but I had planned for this chapter to be kind of a short in-between that is no less important, just a shorter portion that is Noel-centric. Next chapter will definitely be longer, and it'll have a lot of action and important plot points in there! Thank you guys for being so patient, and I hope you enjoy!

Thank you to **Meyneth24** :)

 **Summary:** "Why do you build cities only for them to be swallowed by Chaos?"

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

* * *

 **Luxerion – 502AF (One Thousand and Three Days after the Chaos)**

The city made of brown stone and muted steel would have felt welcoming with its neutral tones and riverfront if Noel didn't feel slightly creeped out by it. Luxerion was a new city, all things considered, but it felt ancient to him, with its cobblestone paths and back alleyways, the open meadow that, he had been told, was meant to be a cemetery. The dead from the deterioration incident on Bhunivelze a little over a year ago had been the first to be buried there.

As he walked along the avenue with black-and-white checkered floors, he absorbed the architecture, comparing it to everything he and Serah had seen on their journey lifetimes ago.

Noel's heart broke a little bit more, like it did every time he thought about the girl who was once so vibrant and full of life, now laying still inside Hope's laboratory encased in an AMP field and with Mog for company. No matter what she said, no matter what Snow or Hope or Sazh said, he felt the heavy guilt and burning anger at himself for what happened to her. Serah was his partner and his best friend, the one he continually saved and the one who continually saved him. She was the one he watched over on the nights where she despaired at finding her sister, at Caius and the destruction he wreaked on the timeline, the one who watched over him on his nights of loneliness, when he felt the ache of missing Yeul and Caius before his desperation to destroy time, the nights he felt the burden of being the last human at the end of time.

Serah was the one who ran headfirst into battle with Caius and didn't back down, the one who dove straight into his nightmare just to pull him out. She was the one who reassured him with nothing more than a smile on her face, and again and again he wondered just how he could have ever risked her just because she said she understood and wanted to save the world anyway.

" _I still want to change the future. I understand, Noel. But it doesn't matter. I've already made my decision, and we're going to change the future."_

" _If we hurry, we just might do it in time. Then I wouldn't have to have any more visions. I'm going to believe that I get to Valhalla."_

 _Okay_ , he had told her. _I'll make sure you get there._

" _We have to stick together, Noel. I've got no one else I can count on but you."_

The river winds blew his bangs back as he reached the waterfront in front of the monorail station that was currently under construction. Would Serah have liked this? Is this the world she died to save? His thoughts drifted to Hope, to the two crystalline figures in his lab he spent time with nearly every night, and the one waiting in the Temple in the Wildlands. Would Fang and Vanille and Lightning want to wake up to a world like this?

Noel rubbed a hand over his face, barely suppressing a harsh chuckle. What irony. In the end, they had lost Serah _and_ failed to save the world. He was ready to let it go to hell if it meant that she would live, and he had lost them both.

As he made his way across town, the bells in the enormous cathedral rang, marking the hour. Noel walked on to the outskirts of town, to the edge of the monorail where the tracks were being laid. Pandaemonium lifted the foundations and the metal, placing them together piece by piece.

The fal'Cie didn't acknowledge him when he approached; Noel took the opportunity to watch it work as he leaned against the side of a large boulder a few feet away.

"Why do you build cities only for them to be swallowed by Chaos?"

His question came out of nowhere, the thought flitting into his mind and out his mouth without being filtered. It was not information directly released to the public; Hope, Snow, and the other Academy higher-ups were doing a fantastic job with panic control, but there were rumors and leaked news circulating around nonetheless.

Pandaemonium worked in silence for another moment before it answered, its normally booming voice toned down a notch.

"We await the Savior."

Noel looked sharply at the towering figure, eyes narrowing. Of all the things he had expected to hear- that the fal'Cie built them to lure mankind into cities only for them to meet their end in the Sea of Chaos, for them to die suffering as they waited for the end of time- this cryptic response wasn't it.

"The Savior?"

"The Maker has revealed to me the end of time," the fal'Cie replied. "The end of the world, and the plans that he has for the new world."

He pursed his lips into a thin line; this was stuff he needed to tell Hope and Snow. Why had Pandaemonium never told them any of this? And why was it telling him now?

"What do you mean 'new world'?" Noel asked, putting his hands on his hips.

"The new world the Savior is meant to bring."

"Who's 'the Savior'?" the brunet pressed, eager for answers.

Pandaemonium turned away from him, putting another piece of the track in place. There was a tone of finality in its otherwise-monotone voice, a signal to the end of their discussion.

"She is coming."


	11. Yusnaan

Anndddd I've been gone over a month. Sorry! I spent a lot of time trying to work out the new chapter for my other fic, which turned out to be really long and overly complicated, but I think the end product was pretty good.

Also, I started a new job! Was pretty busy last week, but I managed to finish this chapter during my down times. It's...not long at all, and I know I said there would be more action and stuff, but what I REALLY meant was that it would be the chapter after this one that has all the action.

A big thank-you to **Meyneth24** :)

Stay tuned! Next chapter is going to have a pretty significant impact on the rest of this series ;)

 **Summary** : "The Academy is debating on whether or not to just hand this whole place over to him."

Sazh's head jerked back to look at his younger friend. "Those bigwigs would actually do that?!"

"I think they're just nervous because of the fal'Cie," the silverette replied slowly. "And if Snow is willing to do the grunt work, then to the Academy, he's just another- granted, more powerful as a l'Cie- body for them to use."

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

* * *

 **Yusnaan – 503 AF (One Thousand Two Hundred and Fifteen Days after the Chaos)**

Hope sighed, feeling the breeze ruffle his silver hair on one of the incredibly rare days he took off work (read: Stacks, Pidge, and the rest of his team actually threatened to manhandle him and throw him out of the lab if he didn't. 'It's not like we're running on a deadline or anything,' the brunette scientist said with a smug grin on her face).

In the end, it really wasn't a horrible idea. Pandaemonium had completed the construction of the second city- Yusnaan, a glittering city full of big plazas and an enormous central building (thus dubbed The Palace of Yusnaan) that Snow had all but moved in to. He had been, according to the majority vote of the Academy Board, the one deemed most suited to distribute supplies to Bhunivelze and the rest of Nova Chrysalia. The silverette almost snorted. Right. As if Snow wasn't the last l'Cie in the world, with the strongest connection to the fal'Cie and had more power than probably the whole of the Academy combined.

Hope's eyebrows furrowed. His and Noel's magic and combative abilities weren't any laughing matter, his magic especially, even without the powers of a fal'Cie, but with the boosted power from Pandaemonium, Snow made a formidable opponent, one that the Academy Board did not want to have against them. They just wanted the appearance of being in control, when in fact, they had very little power. Those bastards.

He ran a hand through his hair, aquamarine eyes watching Snow give orders to different distribution personnel, people who had volunteered to move to the newest city to start work. It was a smart move on Snow's part when he first requested the help and laid out the benefits; with the (dis)organized chaos, pun intended, as he had said once, even after a few years, it would be helpful if people threw themselves into a routine. The best way to do that? Employment. Genius. The Academy Board ate up the idea, and people from all over converged to begin as soon as possible.

In the three both simultaneously long and short years since the Chaos influx, Pandaemonium had completed Luxerion and Yusnaan, two urban centers in the otherwise-shrinking world. The monorail Hope himself had proposed merely a year before had also been finished, with stations in each major area of Nova Chrysalia, whether they be populated or not. However…when Pandaemonium declared itself done, there were only four stations- Luxerion, Yusnaan, the Wildlands, and what was found and named the Dead Dunes, a dry desert that contained the remains of what Hope recognized to be the Mah'habara Subterra along with the now-immobile ancient Pulse fal'Cie Atomos. It no longer dug tunnels, haven't for almost half a millennia.

When asked about the curious placement and construction of only four monorail stations, Pandaemonium gave no answer, even to Snow. Instead, it only settled itself in Yusnaan, creating supplies and food from the _raw Chaos_ , something that disgusted most people, and fascinated the young scientist.

His team had been busy experimenting with different AMP tech and how to bend it to affect the Chaos. Hope was positive that any day now, either Pidge or Stacks would encounter some sort of breakthrough. In fact, just yesterday, Pidge very nearly physically kicked him out of her office, muttering something about 'time' and 'echoes' before she threw him out, obviously busy in the middle of a theory and formulating her hypothesis. She didn't even answer any of his bemused questions. If she had bothered to look up from her work and see his amused grin while tossing him out, Hope was certain he would be hurting somewhere the sun didn't shine.

Hope's smile fell, and he shivered. Best not to go down that road. The brunette was both small and terrifying, and he sent up a silent 'good luck' to her husband, Keith, whom he had met on all of one occasion. From what he had been told, the man was a pilot, one of the Academy's best, Sazh's right-hand man and second-in-command, skilled both in the air and in combat; that was good, really good. In the times to come, they would need all the help they could get.

A loud crash startled him out of his thoughts; from where he was standing in the Warehouse Distrcit, full of cargo containers ready to be shipped out, he could see a palette of _something_ that had fallen off the forklift. Snow's large, blond figure bounded up to the incident, inspecting the damage and conversing with the person who had been operating said forklift.

"Who knew? Snow Villiers would make a good politician," Sazh said, walking up next to him with a chuckle. Hope almost snorted.

"Yeah…never saw that coming," he murmured. Lightning would have scoffed, and Vanille would have been right down there with the sentinel. Hope could never stop referring to Snow as that, the tank of a man who had stood in front to protect them, even with his big head and Savior Complex and his infuriating pride that almost bordered on arrogance on more than one occasion, no matter how many years it had been since their first adventure. "The Academy is debating on whether or not to just hand this whole place over to him."

Sazh's head jerked back to look at his younger friend. "Those bigwigs would actually do that?!"

"I think they're just nervous because of the fal'Cie," the silverette replied slowly. "And if Snow is willing to do the grunt work, then to the Academy, he's just another- granted, more powerful as a l'Cie- body for them to use."

The older man whistled lowly. "Man, that's cold."

"It is, but if Snow is up for it, I would rather him take over than someone else who doesn't know what they're doing. Who knows, maybe in another few years, he'll be running this place for real, not just an extension of the Academy and whatever they want."

They quietly observed the scene in front of them, neither breaking the companionable silence.

A busy Snow was a good Snow. Busy Snow wasn't mindlessly grieving, heaping blame upon blame on himself. Hope frowned and tried very, very hard to not think of the lifeless girl lying in the AMP field in his lab, had been lying there, waiting for them, for three years.


	12. Alyssa

I've been gone for over a month. I AM SO SORRY. Between working and home stuff and other crap and my other fic, it's been really difficult trying to juggle things. I AM SO SORRY FOR BEING GONE SO LONG.

Although...I promise this chapter is totally worth it ;) thank you guys for sticking with me and with this story/series! You guys are the best :) **Meyneth24** THANK YOU for catching the Voltron reference! I got really into it last year, so I've been trying to make cameos everywhere I can ;)

 **Summary** : It was the flickering, transparent form of a young girl with her eyes closed. Her short blonde hair covered her ears, and barely reached the back of her neck. The oddest thing about her, though, was her outfit- she was dressed in an Academy Uniform, one Hope recognized had been standard back in 10AF, tweaked to meet her personal needs. Something yanked at his memory, making him wince as a single name popped into his head.

"Alyssa," he murmured.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series

* * *

 **Bhunivelze – 503AF (One Thousand Two Hundred and Forty-Six Days After the Chaos)**

It was exactly a month after Hope had been coerced into taking a day off did the breakthrough finally happen, both figuratively, and, quite literally, in the way that Stacks rather unceremoniously burst through the door of Hope's lab. The silveret didn't have to ask- the look in the young scientist's eyes had both of them running down to the bigger lab, where Noel, Snow, Sazh, and Keith met them, the four skidding to a stop in front of the door. Stacks quickly slid his keycard and keyed in the passcode, granting them entrance. Pidge and a number of others stood in front of a screen next to a few large machines that were hooked up to the Chaos containment room.

"Sir," Pidge addressed him, clipboard and pencil at the ready. She pushed her glasses up. "We've managed to tap into a partial frequency of the Chaos, and were able to calibrate the available AMP tech to that specific frequency. It's…not quite stable and it's not a lot, but with what we have, we're able to bend the Chaos. If we can reach further into the Chaos, we may actually be able to reverse its affects. As of right now, we are able to do that on a miniscule scale with the Chaos in the containment room. We're…not quite sure what will happen, but I think that it _should_ create an echo of some sort, something that the Chaos has touched and affected with time."

Keith walked up next to her in a silent show of support as Hope nodded. "Proceed."

One of the other scientists adjusted a few things on the instrument panel he was seated in front of, pressed a few buttons, and then slowly lifted a lever on the side. A loud whirring sound was heard, the instrument's lights blinking rapidly as the technology meshed with the Chaos, and fought for dominance. The black mist seemed to sway before it parted, and the machine in front of the scientists hissed open to a sight no one expected to see.

It was the flickering, transparent form of a young girl with her eyes closed. Her short blonde hair covered her ears, and barely reached the back of her neck. The oddest thing about her, though, was her outfit- she was dressed in an Academy Uniform, one Hope recognized had been standard back in 10AF, tweaked to meet her personal needs. Something yanked at his memory, making him wince as a single name popped into his head.

"Alyssa," he murmured.

"Hope, you know this girl?" Sazh asked, rubbing the back of his afro. The chocobo chick kweh-ed softly, as if repeating the question.

"N-no," he replied, squinting his eyes. She really did look familiar, but Hope was certain he had never seen her before in his life. But he knew her name, without a single doubt. How?

The girl's eyes slowly opened, blue eyes looking around the lab as if in a haze. She raised her hand, looking down at it before looking up at Hope, and then it was as if she broke through her daze, a wolfish grin appearing on her thin lips.

"Forgotten me already, Director?" she asked, her voice crackling like static. "I'm hurt."

"Who are you?"

She sighed dramatically. "You remember my name. That's not good enough. Although…good job, you people at the Academy aren't completely hopeless and are clever enough to bring me back."

"Enough with the games," Noel said, trying his hardest to not snap at her in irritation. "Just tell us who you are. And what do you mean by 'bring you back'? Back from where? Did you…die because of the Chaos?"

"What, Noel, you don't remember me either?" she replied almost mockingly, her left arm coming up to hug her torso. She nested her right elbow on top, her index finger tapping against her lips. She sighed again, this time visibly deflating. "All right then, since you look so clueless."

Her transparent shoe tapped against the linoleum floor of the lab. "My name is Alyssa. I was Hope's _personal_ ," she emphasized this word. "Assistant in another timeline. I was one of the leading researchers in Time Gates and paradoxes and spacetime theories."

Absolute silence reigned in the room as everyone scrambled to process that bit of information. Alyssa was downright _amused_ , a smirk playing on her lips. "Oh man, if you're floored by that little tidbit, what'll happen when you start asking questions? Of course, I don't have to answer them, but…" she trailed off, tapping her index finger against her chin.

With that little comment, Hope cleared his throat, shaking his silver head to regain focus.

"What do you mean you were my assistant?" he asked. "Why don't I remember this? You don't exist in any of the Academy's data archives."

 _He wasn't going to say out loud that her name had come up before, a half-forgotten memory, a fragment of time he couldn't remember, and he had gotten curious and tried to find her before realizing she couldn't be found._

Alyssa shuffled her feet, putting her hands behind her back as she looked straight at him. "You remembered my name though," she pointed out, almost gently. It wasn't hard to tell, at least not for Noel, that she very obviously had a soft spot for Hope. He almost cringed at her body language, but bit down on the inside of his cheeks. "After the fall of Cocoon, when the Time Gates started appearing everywhere, I started studying them and got really into spacetime theory. I met Noel and Serah at Lake Bresha, back in 5AF. You approached me a while after that, because you were impressed with my work."

"Hold on," Noel stepped in, clearly confused and unable to keep silent anymore. "Serah and I have never met you. Lake Bresha…5 AF…" his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember. He snapped his fingers in Hope's direction. "What's your assistant's name again?"

Hope opened his mouth to answer, but Alyssa was faster. "Aina. Aina Stein." Her eyes were guarded, unreadable. "She's…a descendant my friend, Nena. We were Purge victims, back when the Sanctum still had Cocoon under its thumb. We ended up at Lake Bresha after what happened at Hanging Edge, but when everything was coming down…" Alyssa made a gesture with her hands, causing Snow to blanch at the implications of her words, the man undoubtedly thinking about his and NORA's involvement in what had happened. "Well. I kept having this nightmare, that at the graveyard in Lake Bresha, it was my name on that gravestone instead of Nena's. And," she let out a sarcastic chuckle. "I was right."

"That still doesn't explain anything," Noel pointed out. "How could you be Hope's assistant when none of us remember you?"

The blonde threw him a glare as she put a hand on her hip. "When Etro decided that the world _was_ better off with the ex-l'Cie- and, as I understand, currently the last l'Cie in the world," she said, pointing right at Snow. "She upset the Chaos balance in the world when she released them from stasis."

Snow wanted to speak up and make a stand for his friends, to justify what they had done to save both Cocoon and Pulse, but Pidge beat him to it. "So…what? The Chaos that came from the imbalance managed to warp time all the way back to the Purge, and you survived instead of your friend? You got good at spacetime theory and became Hope's assistant?"

"She's a bright one," Alyssa said. "That's right. That's exactly what happened. I realized…I was living a lie. Then out of nowhere, Noel and Serah appeared, and then there was that fear, knowing that timelines were still unstable, that they were here to wipe me out while they were busy trying to play hero."

"We didn't-" Noel tried to say, but she cut him off.

"If they fixed the timeline, everything I had done, everything I had become, would be gone for good. Everyone would forget me. I couldn't let that happen, not with Hope."

Hope clenched his fists, jaw tightening. Sazh sucked in a breath. "You had a thing for Hope, I'm guessing," he said, none too tactfully. Alyssa let out a harsh laugh.

"I was good at what I did, that's how I earned my position. But Hope never understood, did you?" she sneered. "It was always about _Vanille_. Vanille this, Vanille that. 'I have to find a way to save Fang and Vanille and Lightning.' He never saw what was right in front of him."

Sazh let out a heavy sigh, and Snow bristled. She was getting close to crossing the line he had drawn for people he cared about, and talking about both Vanille and Hope that way was the furthest thing from okay with him. Hope thought he was going to be sick.

"And then it happened," Alyssa continued, her voice softening. "He came to me, and gave me a way out. I could live. I could be remembered. I only had to give you a fake artefact, and then everything would work out for me."

Realization dawned on Noel like a sucker punch to the stomach. "Academia, 4XX AF," the brunette breathed. "When Serah and I were separated in the Historia Crux. The artefact we had. That was you?" He barely registered Snow putting a careful hand on his shoulder, in case he lashed out in his anger. "Caius found you, didn't he? He gave you the artefact, am I right? Do you have _any_ idea what you did?" He snarled. "Serah is _dead_. We wasted time with those stupid gates and having to face the demons on our own. I couldn't watch her back. She came after me, and she had time to fix everything before she died, but she _didn't_ because you planted that _stupid_ artefact, and-"

Snow was fully restraining him now; Noel's words broke through his anger-filled haze, and he stopped struggling against the bigger man. Serah _didn't_ have the time they thought she had. She never did, a fact he had come to terms with in the three years he had spent mourning her. In the back of his mind, he reprimanded himself for getting emotional, for speaking out when Serah's _fiancé_ hadn't said a word. But, he countered, Snow hadn't been there for their journey. He hadn't traveled through time with them, a journey that fostered such a close friendship between the two of them. Noel trusted Serah with his life and everything he had, and Serah had done the same.

 _Is it harder to be the one who died, or the one who survived?_

He stepped back, Snow warily lowering his arms. The bigger man hadn't been there for their journey, yes, but had had done what he could to protect Serah, even if it meant leaving her behind. Which was the bigger crime? The fact that he left her on her own, even if it was to protect her, or the fact that he wasn't there with the two of them, backing them up as their Sentinel?

The bigger man's blue eyes were filled with grief when Noel forced himself to look up, and he could only manage a whispered, 'sorry.' Snow's large hand rested on his shoulder for a moment, both of them turning their attention back to Alyssa's spectral figure, who had a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Okay," Pidge's voice broke through the conversation once again as she pushed her glasses up, her hazel eyes taking in everything she could see about Alyssa. There was no doubt that she was cataloguing their entire conversation as well, her brain running miles a minute. "We already knew that the Chaos could warp time; that was evident with the Time Gates. But for it to reach back to the time of the Purge takes colossal power."

"Power we're not in shortage of," Noel supplied quietly. "If the Time Gates opened to these alternate timelines and realities and echoes of places, and hundreds of years into the future…to places even outside of space and time like Serendipity, then the Chaos just keeps coming. And if it really is the souls of all Yeuls, like Caius said, then…she's existed all through time. Chaos could have reached back further and further to warp everything. But…but it didn't." His gaze snapped up to Alyssa. "Why not?"

The blonde snorted. "And you think I'm going to answer you because…?"

She fully intended on leaving them in their misery, but the look on Hope's face, one she had seen time and time again- he was desperate for answers- broke her resolve. Alyssa sighed heavily, arms dropping to her sides.

"I can't answer that because I don't know," she admitted almost quietly. "The only thing I know is that I am part of the Chaos now. The Chaos is shifting. There's something else coming, something big, and no one is going to be ready for it."

Snow frowned at her, speaking up for the first time. "Then how do we make a stand? How do we prepare for what's to come? What about the people who live here, on Bhunivelze and on Nova Chrysalia? What about them?"

Alyssa shot him a look. "You can't," she said bluntly. "Even now, we're on borrowed time. The Chaos is more powerful than you think it is, and even those who have been lost to it are unprepared for what is going to happen." She held up her left hand to them, spreading her fingers. "See?"

She was already transparent, but now, she was starting to fade even more. Pidge threw her arm out toward her, as if trying to keep her there. "Wait!" she cried, her sharp hazel eyes snapping over to the scientists at the machine controls, who were trying everything and failing to keep the connection stable.

"There is one thing," Alyssa said finally, pursing her lips. "There's been a single word that's been drifting through the Chaos lately. 'Savior.' I don't know what it means, but like I said, something big's headed your way."

"'Savior'?" Noel murmured. "Again?"

"Again?" Snow asked, completely distracted. Alyssa was fading fast.

"Wait!" Hope called, feeling panic rise in his chest. It wasn't enough, he needed more answers, he needed to know what to do, with the future of two worlds hanging in the balance. "Alyssa, please!"

Alyssa's face morphed into a small, sad smile. "What I wouldn't have given for you to have said that to me," she murmured softly. "Good luck, Hope."

She was gone, the shifting frequency of the Chaos rendering their calculations and machinery useless and every person in the room with more questions than they had started with.


	13. The Fireworks of Bodhum

I've been gone over a month and have no good excuse other than the fact that this chapter was terribly difficult to write. I'm so sorry!

But I am also very encouraged by the feedback I've gotten from multiple people, so thank you guys so much for keeping me on my feet and helping me see this through :) this chapter is the SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! And then it'll be the first completed work in this series of three. I'm beyond excited to start exploring what happens in the second arc as more time progresses and changes Nova Chrysalia into the world we see in Lightning Returns. I hope you all enjoy this second-to-last, and to know that this sets up a precipice that our characters will be thrown over as we move on in the 500 years of Chaos.

 **Meyneth24** : Alyssa's an interesting character, and I think she definitely has some great motivations behind her actions, making both her character development and backstory interesting. Unfortunately, I wasn't a huge fan of her when I was playing through the game =\ she was really whiny and clingy. I couldn't handle it =\ I do love that she has so much dimension though, it makes the story so much more interesting! Heh, my Vanihopu is ALWAYS showing ;) I love them so much, the world needs more.  
 **Chundercat** : Thank you so much for reviewing! And for supporting this story :)

Again, thank you SO MUCH, and I hope y'all enjoy!

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series.

* * *

 **Yusnaan – 505 AF (One Thousand Six Hundred and Eleven Days After the Chaos)**

Dajh's glittering eyes, his innocent aura, was something that made their hearts ache, an ache that grew as they continued to walk through the streets of Yusnaan. Innocence just wasn't something anyone saw much of anymore, bringing them back to the comparatively clear-cut days, no matter how difficult, of journeying through the wild Pulsian plains, fighting their way through and around the Archylte Steppe. Sometimes, Hope wondered if any of it was worth it. Sometimes, Sazh wondered how long Dajh would keep that childish innocence, wondering and then reprimanding himself, asking his conscience whether he would leave his son in crystal stasis if he was honest with himself and answered 'yes' just to keep that smile on his face.

As Snow continued to lead them through the city, Plaza after Plaza of colors and sights and sounds, he kept watching Dajh's eyes grow wider and wider, his excitement building as the boy fired off question after question at him about the city and its inhabitants, its attractions and culture. He patiently answered each one, knowing that Dajh spent most of his time on Bhunivelze, and that the boy rarely had the chance to experience the bustling city that was quickly becoming an enormous tourist attraction.

No longer was it just the shipping city from where Snow sent out supplies to the rest of Nova Chrysalia, but a hub that had a marketplace that sold all kinds of goods, restaurants that served exotic foods from all regions of the world, and top-notch architectural designs that Pandaemonium mashed together to create something altogether new and invigorating. It was a bright spot in the rapidly-darkening world, and to have a place such as this for something as trifle as entertainment, Hope knew, would do wonders for people's spirits. It was _especially_ important at this time. He told Snow as much when Dajh excitedly ran back to his father, grabbing his hand, and pulling him towards one of the brightly-colored kiosk stands that sold cactuar merchandise, leaving the two men to walk slowly as they talked.

Right then, a street performer set off a series of mini-fireworks that attracted a small crowd, drawing gasps and 'oohs' and 'aahs' as the lights and explosions went off. Sazh put Dajh on his shoulders then, walking over to see the show after purchasing a cactuar balloon for his son, which he held tightly in his little fist. They couldn't even begin to be compared to the fireworks in Eden, and _especially_ not the ones in Bodhum, but they were just the thing to put smiles on the crowd's faces.

"I like what you did with the place," the silveret murmured, taking a deep breath as he meandered, looking around and drinking in the details of the brightly-lit avenue. Snow chuckled.

"It wasn't my idea. It was actually Noel's," he admitted. "We were talking about it one day. Serendipity. He was telling me about all the amazing sights he and Serah saw there, all the odd bits and pieces that seemed to come from everywhere else and just seemed to merge into this one place, out of reach of time and space. He's had so little experience with fun, not like what we were used to back on Cocoon…" he shrugged. "I thought it might be good. It's a city of distribution, but that doesn't mean that it can't be one that provides a distraction as well."

Hope took another long look around, his aquamarine eyes sweeping over the entirety of the Plaza they were standing in. There were so many people milling around, people who were selling and purchasing things as if it was just another day.

He jolted as he came to the realization. It _was_ just another day. Time was frozen and Valhalla merged with and terraformed Gran Pulse, sure, but people were still alive. They were still thriving. They weren't searching for answers every day, not like he was, and granted, his work was important, yes, but here they were, having all the time in the world and _it was just another ordinary day_. He took in Sazh and Dajh's smiles in the afternoon light, drinking in the fact that even in this wacked-up world that gave them more questions than answers, people could still live. That was the only thing they could do.

Rubbing a gloved hand over his face, Hope's lips parted in a soft smile. Vanille would have been there to remind him of that, he knew, if she were there. Fang and Lightning would have encouraged him with his work, would have given Snow the affirmation he needed that this was a good idea, this was good in the world they were in. That in the middle of all they were doing, they needed to stop and breathe in their relentless search.

Dajh and Sazh made their way back to the two men, the boy proudly showing off his new balloon.

"Uncle Snow, this place is so fun!" he exclaimed happily. Snow grinned, ruffling his mini-afro.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it, kiddo," the blond replied affectionately. Dajh's brown eyes gleamed.

"Papa, can we come here more often?" he asked as he tugged Sazh's hand. His father nodded with a smile.

"Of course! But, uh, Dajh, a lot of this is just walking and shopping. You okay with that?"

"Uh-huh!" The boy nodded enthusiastically. "It's got so much food an', an' animals an', an' sounds an' music, Yus-nan should be the city of _fun_!"

The three men laughed at his adorable declaration until Snow put a hand on his hips and the other under his chin in thought.

"You know," he said slowly, blue eyes brightening with the beginnings of an idea. Hope had learned long ago to take them with a grain of salt, and merely teasingly sighed, putting his hands on his hips and waiting for the punchline. "That's not a bad idea, Dajh. Anything specific you think would be fun?"

Dajh's eyes blew wide, immediately letting go of his father's hand to hang onto Snow's, excitedly scrambling to him. "Chocobos! Fireworks!" he almost yelled in his excitement. "Like the ones in, in, um…" He looked at Snow for help, little eyebrows scrunching as he tried to remember.

"Bodhum?" Snow asked, amused. The boy nodded.

"Bodhum! An' an' a biiiiiiiiiiiiig cactuar statue! Lots of food! An' an' those music shows…"

His voice faded out a little, drowned by the other sounds around them. Sazh shook his head, Hope smiling fondly at Dajh and Snow's retreating backs. "I hope he doesn't get carried away," the father said, rubbing the back of his afro.

"I don't know," Hope murmured. "Maybe this is exactly what this world needs."


	14. New World

I've been gone over a month and have no good excuse other than the fact that this chapter was terribly difficult to write. I'm so sorry!

But I am also very encouraged by the feedback I've gotten from multiple people, so thank you guys so much for keeping me on my feet and helping me see this through :) this chapter is the SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! And then it'll be the first completed work in this series of three. I'm beyond excited to start exploring what happens in the second arc as more time progresses and changes Nova Chrysalia into the world we see in Lightning Returns. I hope you all enjoy this second-to-last, and to know that this sets up a precipice that our characters will be thrown over as we move on in the 500 years of Chaos.

A huge thank-you to **Meyneth24** , for always being so patient with me and my updates, and never fails to drop a review. It's so encouraging, and has definitely gotten me through some rough patches with this fic.

Again, thank you SO MUCH, and I hope y'all enjoy! See you in the next installment of this series! ;)

 **Summary** : In the span of fifteen short years, no one lived on Bhunivelze anymore.

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own the Final Fantasy XIII series.

 **FINALFANTASYXIII**

 **Bhunivelze – 515AF (Five thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Four Days After the Chaos)**

The wind scattered dry, dead leaves along the asphalt, scratching the road in staccatos before lifting them in a swirling pattern above the once-magnificent city of New Academia. In the tallest building in the heart of the city, Hope Estheim looked over the abandoned metropolis of his own creation from the Academy HQ. His face was carefully blank, no emotions leaking through as he tuned out the small beeps and hums from the machines behind him. Instead, he could only look out to the distance in an attempt to gather his thoughts.

Fifteen years. That was all it took. Fifteen years to undo his life's work, ten hard years of continued research and misadventures, ten years of yearning for his mother, for Fang and Lightning and Vanille and someone to look up to, to fall back on, and nothing to show for it. This wasn't the first time he had this talk with himself.

Bhunivelze was built to be the new haven for mankind, but it had not been built to withstand the might of Valhalla and onslaught of Chaos.

No one lived there anymore.

The Chaos ate away at Bhunivelze like it ate away at Nova Chrysalia, the world shrinking and shrinking with each passing year.

With a heavy sigh, Hope closed his eyes, ten years' worth of work and weariness now evident on his face. He couldn't stop now, even to mourn the lifeless Cocoon he himself had created. Snow was still doing what he could on Nova Chrysalia, in Yusnaan, between running the city, distributing supplies, and working with the Academy Board. Noel was continuing his self-taught education as best he could, helping people in the Wildlands and Luxerion when he had the time. Sazh and Dajh were still out there, transporting supplies and distributing medicines all over the continent, having settled in the Wildlands.

Dajh- he was all the proof they needed. It had been fifteen years since the Chaos flooded into the world, but Dajh Katzroy remained at the age of six, exactly as he was when Hope had met him for the first time.

Stacks' theory had been right all along, and they had concrete proof of it now. No one was aging. No one was being born. And people were still dying.

Even after the evacuation from Bhunivelze due to its abnormal deterioration, Hope and his classified team stayed behind in their Ark, continuing their research on Chaos and AMP technology. Not even the Academy Board knew of anything they conducted up there, high in the sky above everyone else. Clenching his fists, he took a deep breath, exhaling and releasing the pent-up tension and anger and disappointment from his body. He turned from the enormous window in his new lab to look at the bright crystal- Fang and Vanille- that he had moved there, next to the AMP field that housed Serah Farron's body, as if to remind himself what was at stake for them all if he didn't succeed, if he didn't hurry.

Hope _had_ to continue his research.

* * *

 _Screams pierced the air, fear pulsing like a heartbeat all around them. Hope's aquamarine eyes burned, but there were no tears. It was happening again, this nightmare he and the others never wanted a repeat of._

" _Hope!" Sazh yelled from the airship comm. Gritting his teeth, Hope gripped his boomerang tighter as he raised his left hand, summoning a powerful aeroga spell and carefully lifted a screaming group of people who had been caught when the ground fell from underneath their feet. The very next minute, Sazh swooped in, positioning the airship right under them to catch them when Hope gently released the spell._

 _A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, and his head immediately turned to see Snow, an expression of sorrow on the man's face. He didn't have to say anything; Snow had known him since he was a boy. They had known each other for more than five hundred years. He knew. The blond's blue eyes were full of grief, knowing nothing he said would help now. No matter Hope's dreams, his goals and intentions, sometimes, things just…_

 _They agreed with the evacuation immediately. People would have to rebuild their lives, their homes, again, but they all knew it was for the best. They couldn't rebuild anything if they were dead._

 _In the span of fifteen short years, no one lived on Bhunivelze._

* * *

It wasn't often that Hope left Bhunivelze and his research to spend time on Nova Chrysalia, if only because he wanted to safeguard Serah, Fang, and Vanille, all of whom were left on Bhunivelze in the thought that they would be safer there, without interruptions, and with Hope and his highly-trained, highly-classified team. It was even rarer for all of them- Sazh, Hope, Noel, and Snow- to be together in one place outside of work anymore, each of them being so busy on a day-to-day basis.

"How's research going, Hope?" Noel asked over dinner at Sazh's one night when Hope was persuaded to take a break. The man in question sighed.

"There's still a lot we don't know, even though it's been so many centuries since we first started research on the Chaos," he replied tiredly. Snow and Sazh stopped eating their food to give Hope their undivided attention. "Of course there's been a lot of good progress- we haven't yet managed to recreate another echo or anything, but the theories of the Anti-Matter Principle tech has such a large impact on the Chaos that it creates virtually limitless possibilities."

Despite himself, Snow chuckled. "Sounds like you have things under control, then."

Hope sighed, looking down at his plate. "The only thing I feel like I can control is the well-being of Serah, Fang, and Vanille," he admitted quietly. "The Chaos is constantly moving and stirring. It's unsettling, and has only been increasingly so the past few years."

"Hope," Sazh spoke up, his voice taking on a fatherly tone as he took a good look at the dark shadows underneath Hope's eyes. "You're doing everything you can. You can't control everything, or be expected to. You're not God."

Noel took a swig of water. "What about that Savior that Caius and Yeul and Pandaemonium were talking about? Maybe if we can find them, they can help!"

Outside Sazh's windows, the leaves on the trees shook gently in the wind. The quiet of the Wildlands was a different sort of quiet than on Bhunivelze; where it was a peaceful sort of calm in the vast plains of Nova Chrysalia, it was still up there, lonely, isolated from the world. Hope's eyes hardened, hearing a faint ticking of a clock in the distance.

"If there really is a Savior," he murmured. "They need to be here _now._ "


End file.
